Lambert’s Cove Road in Vineyard Haven reopened Wednesday morning after a daylong closure Tuesday from a washout.

The road was closed Tuesday morning after heavy rains washed away half of the road’s sandy sub-base, leaving an unsupported crust of pavement stretching over a cavernous emptiness below.

Tisbury DPW was on the scene. — Mark Alan Lovewell

It reopened Wednesday shortly before 11 a.m., after workers made interim repairs to the sub-base and surface, Tisbury department of public works director Kirk Metell said.

“It’s packed, it’s filled, it’s got a temporary top,” the DPW director said.

The washout took place parallel to the culvert where Smith Brook travels under the roadway, town administrator Jay Grande said.

“The deluge of rain last night was extreme,” Mr. Grande said Tuesday. “It looks like the water migrated into this section of the roadway and undermined it.”

Men and equipment were hard at work packing new fill into the eroded space. “We’re going to fill it in, compact it in and get the road back open,” Mr. Metell said at the time.

He said he was alerted by a motorist around 8 a.m. Tuesday that a small sinkhole had appeared on the side of the road.

“We discovered there was a much larger sinkhole that went halfway across the road,” he said.

While only half the road was affected, the town closed both lanes for safety reasons.

Speaking to the Gazette by phone Wednesday, Mr. Metell said the temporary repair will last until the town performs culvert work in the area next month.

“Until then, everything is ready to go. And now we’re out plowing snow,” he said. “Woo-hoo!”