Eight blocks of South Surrey鈥檚 8 Avenue 鈥� between 192 and 200 Streets 鈥� are expected to remain closed through at least Friday, as crews work to repair damage triggered by Tuesday鈥檚 heavy rains.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a pretty major job,鈥� said Jeff Welch, the City of Surrey鈥檚 south-end roads and drainage manager.

鈥淲e鈥檙e going down basically 30 feet and having to build the road up 30 feet, so there鈥檚 lots of gravel, there鈥檚 lots of riprap, lots of stabilization that has to be done to make sure the road doesn鈥檛 slip away.鈥�

Crews have been working since early Wednesday, after a portion of the shoulder on the road鈥檚 south side washed out in the 19500-block of 8 Avenue around 5:30 a.m.

Welch said water running down the driveway of an abandoned lot just east of the affected area carried gravel that blocked the catch-basin.

鈥淪o the water had to bypass the catch-basin, and it found its easiest route down the hill,鈥� he said.

鈥淯nfortunately, that easiest route meant it wiped out the whole shoulder of the road.鈥�

To repair the damage, crews have had to remove a section of the roadway itself in order to access the problem area. They have to build up 鈥渢he toe鈥� of the bank so it won鈥檛 wash out further, then rebuild the road, Welch said.

The washout was the only one in Surrey, and Welch said it would have been impossible to predict.

While it likely wouldn鈥檛 have caused drivers any grief if they had been on the road at the time, Welch said the washout would certainly have caught their attention.

鈥淚t would have scared them because it was really close to the road edge,鈥� he said.

The repairs 鈥渨ill be costly,鈥� Welch said.