A 20-foot sinkhole opened up in the driveway of McDonald's in Wadesboro on July 28, 2012.

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Heavy rains a few weeks after the original sinkhole appeared caused more problems that required permanent repairs to the driveway of McDonald's, Pizza Hut and Harvest Ministries.

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An 11-foot pipe has remedied the drainage issues that caused a massive sinkhole to develop off U.S. 74 in Wadesboro during the summer of 2012.

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A sinkhole that opened up during a summer storm in late July kept three Wadesboro businesses closed for more than a month.

A storm that rolled through Anson County on July 28, 2012 created a 20-foot deep sinkhole in the driveway of McDonald’s, Pizza Hut and Harvest Ministries off U.S. 74 in Wadesboro.

Joe Mendola, who represents property owner Claude Smith, said that the “catastrophe happened Saturday night during heavy rains.”

Two New Jersey men had just visited the McDonald’s drive-thru when their vehicle’s rear end fell into the sinkhole. They were treated for minor injuries at Anson Community Hospital, former Wadesboro Police Chief Janie Schutz said.

Less than two weeks later, more heavy rains enlarged the sinkhole and caused the evacuation of 12 people who were living in Harvest Ministries’ homeless shelter. The people were relocated to South Piedmont Community College’s Lockhart-Taylor Center until they could return to the shelter.

At the end of August, permanent repairs began on the sinkhole, which had enlarged to completely cut off the driveway to the three businesses. The repairs continued through mid-September, when an 11-foot pipe was placed underneath the driveway, allowing for wastewater to flow more freely.

The Wadesboro McDonald’s reopened on Sept. 24, nearly two months after the sinkhole first appeared. “I think the pipe is big enough now that it’s going to take a lot for it to get clogged again,” Wadesboro McDonald’s manager Lisa Bittle said the day of the reopening.

The Pizza Hut and Harvest Ministries reopened shortly thereafter.