Lake Peigneur
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The backflow of the normally outflowing Delcambre canal temporarily created the biggest waterfall in Louisiana |
Lake Peigneur is a 1,300 feet (396 meters) deep, salt-water lake near
New Iberia, Louisiana. The name
Peigneur is
French for "comber".
The lake was previously an eleven foot shallow fresh-water lake until an unusual man-made incident on
November 21,
1980. At that time,
Diamond Crystal Salt Company operated the Jefferson Island
salt mine under the lake while a
Texaco oil rig was drilling down from the surface of the lake.
All the evidence having been destroyed in the ensuing maelstrom, the generally accepted cause of the disaster is that a miscalculation from the Texaco drilling operation as to its location, relative to Diamond Crystal's, ended up with the drill puncturing the roof of the third level of Diamond Crystal's salt mine, creating an opening in the bottom of the lake (similar to one removing the drain plug from a bathtub). The lake then proceeded to drain into the hole, with the packed salt underneath absorbing water nearly as fast as it poured in, resulting in the draining of the lake into the salt mine. A resultant
whirlpool sucked in the drilling platform, eleven barges, many trees and some of the surrounding terrain. The salt mine was so large and so able to absorb the water pouring into it that the water level dropped significantly, enough to reverse the flow of the
Delcambre canal that leads to the
Gulf of Mexico. This backflow created, for a few days, the tallest waterfall ever in the state of Louisiana, at 50â€"100 feet (15â€"30 m), as the lake refilled with salt water to replace the fresh water now in the salt mine.
Fortunately, even with the grand physical effects there were no injuries and no human lives were lost - all 50 miners in the salt mine were able to escape, and the drillers escaped the platform before it was sucked into the lake - though three dogs were killed. Later, in the aftermath of the disaster, nine of the eleven sunken barges popped out of the mine and refloated on the lake's surface.
The event dramatically affected the ecosystem of the lake (both by greatly increasing the depth of the lake from eleven feet to 1,300 feet, and changing the lake from freshwater to saltwater) and the biology (by introducing new plants and changing the type of fish that inhabited the lake).
The drilling company, Texaco and Wilson Brothers paid $32 million (
USD) to Diamond Crystal and $12.8 million to nearby Live Oak Gardens in out-of-court settlements to compensate for the damage caused.
*
Oil rig disasters - Lake Peigneur*
And away goes the lake down the drain!*
Lake Peigneur: The Swirling Vortex of Doom!*
Google Maps*
History Channel Video of the Swirling Vortex* Gold, Michael.
"Who Pulled the Plug on Lake Peigneur?", Science 81, November 1981, 56.
