SUSSEX COUNTY, Va. — Potholes damaged vehicles and flattened tires along Interstate 95 in Sussex County on Thursday.
Tow trucks and rollbacks were busy all day and well into the night as numerous vehicles experienced flat tires after hitting the potholes.
"I was driving down the road, probably like 6:30 at night, and just, bang, hit a big pothole," Alex Rodriguez, who was traveling to New Jersey when his trip was suddenly interrupted, said. "You couldn’t even really see it, though; it was pitch black at that point."
According to one tow truck owner, at one point, there were up to a dozen cars on the shoulder of the interstate, each with a right-side flat tire, and some with damaged rims.
"Twelve cars between Jarratt and Stoney Creek, sitting beside the side of the road with flat tires from potholes," Jimmy Matthews, with Matthews Towing, said. "When I went to get the last one, there were either eight or nine sitting beside the road, and there were four police cars. The police were working the whole area trying to help the people."
While some drivers had to deal with flat tires, others had their rims destroyed.
"The whole rim disintegrated when it hit the other side of the hole; it just busted in two," Chester Carter, with Carter’s Towing, said.
Carter, who has been in the towing business for 44 years, said Thursday was "unbelievable."
"Probably over two dozen [people] that we helped," he said.
Rodriguez had to stay overnight in Sussex County because a tire for his Mustang couldn’t be found until the following morning.
"For that to have been there all day, and then the mechanic was telling me, like, a bunch of people came in and out yesterday with flat tires from the same pothole, so that’s pretty crazy that it could be there all day," he said.
VDOT had multiple crews on Interstate 95 and 295 on Friday patching potholes.
"Yesterday we received a request for pothole repairs on Interstate 95 near Exit 24 in Sussex County," a VDOT spokesperson told CBS 6. "The contractor completed temporary repairs overnight to resolve the issue. We are actively addressing any reports of potholes as we become aware of them."
For more information on potholes, including how to report one, visit the VDOT website here.
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