JEFFERSONTOWN, Ky. — For decades, Gary Vanegas has driven the same road up Bunsen Way across a creek to get to work at Vanaire.
"We built this building in 1972," he said. "It's incredible. We've never seen anything like that. I've never even seen the water go over the street before."
Thursday morning's commute was a little different for Vanegas when he got to the creek. He said he was already running a little late because of the heavy rain and he noticed several police cars in the area, so he slowed down to see if they needed help.
"As I looked to the left, I noticed the road was washing away right there at that particular time," he said. "It was already halfway washed away at that time."
Vanegas said he made it across the creek and saw a police car pull behind him to block off that section of the road. He said it was only about 10 minutes later when he was inside his building that he looked outside and saw the road he had just been driving on had been washed away and replaced by a giant hole.'
"All things considered, it turned out to be the best scenario for this type of mini-disaster," he said.
According to an engineer with the city of Jeffersontown, flash flooding is to blame for the road's collapse and debris from the cave-in actually damaged a sewer line and a steel gas main.
A spokesperson for LG&E said crews shut down gas to 18 commercial buildings, including Vanegas's, as they worked on repairing the 4-inch steel main that had a minor gas leak.
"Going home, I'm going to have to go a different way," Vanegas said. "Just a little bit of an obstacle. You have a few of those these days right now."
The engineer said city engineers will be out Friday morning to assess the damage and begin coming up with a plan to either fix or repair the road. He said the city will work closely with LG&E and Louisville MSD on this project.
