root access when LDAP is inaccessible

Hi,

Suppose that a server is using ldap_pam to authenticate users. What if there is a network
problem or NIC problem preventing access to LDAP? Then root has to log in against the local
Unix passwd DB. As it is better to use sudo instead of directly logging in as root, it means
we have to create a normal user account locally for each administrator? This kind of defeats
the purpose of having LDAP.

How do you enable root access that still works when LDAP is inaccessible?

Thanks in advance!