Highway washed out, race track partially flooded after weekend storm

PITTSYLVANIA COUNTY (WSLS 10) - Work continued on Monday to repair a roughly 20-foot deep sinkhole along Highway 58 in eastern Pittsylvania County.

The sinkhole opened Saturday night due to all of the rain and made the highway nearly impassable.

Consequently, traffic is being detoured through Caswell County, North Carolina and that means business for the gas stations along the detour route.

"Sundays, most of the time, are slow, but yesterday we got more traffic and most people stopped by and asked how to get to South Boston," said Abraham Salah, an employee at the Pure station in Semora.

Just down the street at the Citgo station, Barbara Barker said she was just as busy.

"You couldn't get through the intersection, there were so many people," Barker recalled. "It's been good for our business."

At one of the gas stations, two men who were at VIR for the 3-Gun Nation Shotgun Nationals over the weekend stopped to get gas.

They said portions of the shooting range were turned into a lake when the nearby river came out of its banks.

"We went back in on Sunday morning and found about seven or eight cars sitting in a lake," said James Mason, who was at the competition as a representative for 3-Gun Nation.

Monday morning, the guys went back out to the track yet again to try to figure out what to do about the remaining car that was almost completely submerged and had to be left because there was no way to tow it out.

"This is about where the water line was, all the way across," Mason said as he walked towards the car, bending down to point out on his leg how high the water was.

The guys spent hours using a tractor to pull cars out of the water over the weekend.

Even so, they say the weekend was not a total loss.

"We still got 250 shooters through and we still had a great event. That just goes to the management at VIR and 3-Gun Nation."

Work to repair the sinkhole on 58 is expected to take all week.