Salt Mine: 1980 Lake Peigneur, LA, Sinkhole Disaster

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It's speculated that a drilling rig accidentally drilled through the wall of the salt mine. As the water came in, it increasingly dissolved the salt; thus, creating a whirlpool on the surface of the lake. All of the miners escaped but the whirlpool created havoc above them.

It completely drained the lake into the mine, taking the rig, trucks, homes, etc., with it. It did fill back up again and is now a salt lake.

Here's the story for those of you who have problems with videos:

http://www.losapos.com/lakepeigneur

Screen caps from the vid:

Flatbed trucks caught in the vortex




The vortex was so strong that it caused the Delcambre Canal to reverse direction,
resulting in a 150 ft. waterfall emptying into the lake bed




The pressure of the water pouring into the mine caused a 400 ft geyser.




Credit to History.com for the video

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Re: Salt Mine: 1980 Lake Peigneur, LA, Sinkhole Disaster

Fair use for the photos below; check out his site for a few others.

http://www.thelivingmoon.com/45jack_files/03files/Endangered_Earth_Sinkhole_Louisiana.html