BATON ROUGE — A massive pothole on Interstate 12 near O'Neal Lane damaged more than a half dozen cars before crews could fix it.

Drivers say the pothole came out of nowhere.

"I hate potholes," Chris Cramer said. 

John Maher, a Firestone employee, described the size of the damage.

"That wasn't a pothole — that was like a crawfish pothole, it was like that big," Maher said. "It looked like somebody put an IED under the road and blew the concrete out. It was insane how big it was."

Maher says his shop sees damage from potholes almost every day.

DOTD says they responded quickly.

"And about an hour later we had staff out to fill that pothole," Rodney Mallett said.

Crews returned to make additional repairs and keep drivers safe.

"We also went out there today to close some lanes and do some additional pothole filling," Mallett said.

Cramer says he appreciates the quick response even though the damage had already been done.

"That pothole was horrible and I'm glad to hear they fixed it," Cramer said.

DOTD is reminding drivers to report potholes when they see them and to stay alert on the roads.