On the morning of November 20, the drill bit suddenly seized up. Shortly after abandoning the rig, the men watched in amazement as the ten-foot deep lake swallowed the entire oil rig, and in its place a maelstrom started to form. The crater, now about 40 acres, has been feeding off adjoining chunks of land and "will continue to grow," said Lynn M. Ligon, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Labor. Didn't they know? After the breach of the salt mine under Lake Peigneur, a whirlpool formed. A placid, roughly 1,000-acre lake near New Iberia, Peigneur was a haven for fishermen and a scenic backdrop to Rip Van Winkle Gardens, a 20-acre paradise of tropical plants developed by John Lyle . Louisiana's salt deposits are in "salt domes" columns that rise for miles (kilometers) from larger deposits deep underground, emerging like islands in surrounding wetlands. Cond Nast Traveler may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. asked the Energy Department to study the accident's implications for the $20 billion Strategic Petroleum Reserve program, and for the federal effort to use salt domes to store nuclear wastes. The water level dropped so low, the rivers flowed backwards. The Delcambre Canal that usually served as an outlet of the lake became an inlet. By the time of the accident, it had carved a huge volume out of the Earth, creating what amounted to enormous manmade caverns in the salt dome. There may also be opportunities to improve warning systems. This caused salt water from the Gulf of Mexico to now flow into what had become a dry lakebed. The water entered the mine with so much force that it caused a geyser of compressed air, water, and salt to be launched 400 feet into the air out of the opening of the mine. Lake Mead water crisis is exposing volcanic rock from eruptions 12 million years ago. Several companies experienced established mine while some were drilling once the occasion occurred. An 'End of the World' Scene: Earth Swallows Lake, Oil Rig Jefferson Island Salt My own experienced a memorable catastrophe when Lake Peigneur in 1980 flattened. Out on the lake, the effect was of a plug suddenly pulled from the drain of a bathtub; the resulting vortex sucked the drilling platform and 11 barges deep into the Earth. Numerous private residences surrounded the lake; on the south shore lay the Live Oak Gardens, a nursery for tropical plants that brought many tourists into the area. Jefferson island survived, but the locally famous botanical garden which it contained was totally decimated. More recently, the petroleum company Texaco had come in and set up two oil wells, both of them operated by independent contractors under the oversight of Texaco specialists. They had managed to permanently transform a 10-foot-deep freshwater lake into a 200-foot-deep saltwater one. Although many of the facts from that day are lost, what we do know is that someone miscalculated and drilled right through the lake and into a salt mine below. Some 9 miles north of the Vermilion Bay in the Gulf of Mexico, a charming, calm lake is a popular resort for fishermen and nature lovers..Subscribe for more fascinating disaster documentaries: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClb6yg8d7eoZF6vnL4e8mog?sub_confirmation=1Tragic history playlist:https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWtCh3_Fxp9FtVfTqXA06J3jhoxIFjpaFSuggest a topic for my next video: https://bit.ly/DarkHistoryTopicsFootage used:https://youtu.be/2-N2TrcxkOA by Loren Kleinhttps://youtu.be/rkIQgCxOL8M by Marion BlairWe reveal the world's darkest and greatest disasters all based on true stories.This disaster documentary is inspired by the fantastic \"Fascinating Horror\". The last remains of a house in Lake Peigneur Louisiana. A Drilling This website uses cookies to improve your experience. Lake Peigneur drilling disaster in Louisiana video - Strange Sounds The Lake Peigneur drilling disaster drained an entire lake, 65 acres (260,000 m2) of surrounding land and created the biggest waterfall of Louisiana. In the process, they heard several loud pops then the oil rig tilted like it was going to collapse. It was home to a small flotilla of shrimping and fishing vessels. Oil drilling accident empties Lake Peigneur into salt mine, sucking 11 barges, a tugboat and 65 . Lake Peigneur Disaster: II.I. Posted by 4 years ago. hbspt.cta._relativeUrls=true;hbspt.cta.load(2164270, '4f2cc40f-e583-4f80-8382-41c1e4243019', {"useNewLoader":"true","region":"na1"}); hbspt.cta._relativeUrls=true;hbspt.cta.load(2164270, '9a2091da-e77f-483e-bb33-5c50c074f388', {"useNewLoader":"true","region":"na1"}); The plan, of course, was to drill into an oil producing formation, not the active salt mine where fifty people were working the day of the incident. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. The small town of Delcambre sat south of it by a canal of the same name which flowed into the Gulf of Mexico. ", After the initial wave, Viator said, a "whirlpool" appeared. Tremors started shaking the blacktop on the surface. The lake normally remains stable this way, but a tipping point was reached on August 21, 1986 and the CO2 erupted from the lake, in something called a limnic eruption. Or purchase a subscription for unlimited access to real news you can count on. One individual step in that review process could be to verify the coordinate system. Who was at faultDiamond Crystal, or the oil company? While drilling, the 14 drill bit seized up and the workers attempted to free the stuck drill bit. Before 1980, it was an approximately 10-foot deep fresh water lake with an island in the middle. 1980 map of Louisiana parishes and towns. Details: Lake Peigneur is located in Louisiana, United States of America. About a two-and-a-half-hour drive west of New Orleans sits a placid lake that for all its unassuming looks was the scene of one of the most bizarre disasters in history. To prevent a recurrence, tubes have been installed that siphon water from the bottom layers of the lake to the top, allowing carbon dioxide to be vented continually over time, rather than building up. Around large underground salt domes, you can often find oil. "I seen this wave coming by," Viator said, "and I told him [Timmy Dore], 'You'd better get out of here. A fisherman who narrowly escaped with his life when a bizarre drilling accident sent Lake Peigneur flooding into the tunnels of an underground salt mine called it "the end of the world," and for seven men on a drilling rig and 50 men in a salt mine, it nearly was. Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window), Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window). Lake Peigneur Originally, this lake was a shallow freshwater lake about 10 foot deep covering 1,300 acres. The question today was whether the entire island might collapse into the earth. People watched in shock as Lake Peigneur disappeared before their eyes down a whirlpool in the middle of the lake just like a bathtub emptying down its drain. The entire volume of the lake drained into the mine, and additional water was drawn through a canal connecting the lake with the Gulf of Mexico. Early in the morning on November 21, 1980, a dozen Texaco-hired workers abandoned their oil-drilling rig hastily in the middle of a lake. document.write(new Date().getFullYear()); In 1980, a drilling rig punched into a mine under Lake Peigneur, about 7 miles (11 kilometers) northwest of Avery Island, flooding the mine. The following video shows what 1 mistake c. The mine which had been in operation since 1919 had been taken over by the Diamond Crystal Salt Company. 2 Louisiana Women Sue Over Fatal Salt Mine Collapse - Claims Journal Lake Peigneur was a shallow, freshwater lake favored by fisherman that averaged about 10 feet depth spread out over 1,300 acres. Next to it, and partially under it, Diamond Crystal Salt Company maintained a salt mine, with salt being mined near the lake since 1919. If you liked this article, you might also enjoy our new popular podcast, The BrainFood Show (iTunes, Spotify, Google Play Music, Feed), as well as: How the Loch Ness Monster Myth Got Its Start. Why were they digging for oil directly above an active salt mine? These cookies do not store any personal information. . It is difficult to determine exactly what occurred, as all of the evidence was destroyed or washed away in the ensuing maelstrom. An hour and a half later, the men watched their $5 million, 150-foot-high derrick somehow vanish into a lake that had an average depth of less than three feet. They had been probing for oil under the floor of Lake Peigneur when their drill suddenly seized up at about 1,230 feet below the muddy surface, and they were unable to free it. The resultant whirlpool sucked in the drilling platform, eleven barges, many trees and 65 acres of the surrounding terrain. There were several popping sounds. SHOCKING Truth About The Biggest Man-Made Sinkhole Disaster | Lake Peigneur Drilling Accident Disaster Reports 1.07K subscribers Subscribe 38 Share 4.1K views 2 months ago The in-depth. Lake Peigneur Salt Mine drilling accident - wow [x-post - /r/nononono] Related Topics . The workers heard loud pops and then the drilling platform began to tilt. Fossil fuel exploration was ongoing, and oil companies had been probing the lake bed. Explore the world's oddities every week with Ken Jennings, and check out his book Maphead for more geography trivia. Set in a landmark tower overlooking the Mississippi River, it's all about understated elegance. The Lake Peigneur Drilling Disaster 1980 | Plainly Difficult Bayou Corne sinkhole was in 2012 while The lake Peigneur was in the 1980's. The . The current reached 35 miles per hour and in the process, a temporary 130-150 foot waterfall was formed -- the tallest ever in Louisiana state history. Although pretty modest by surface area (about 1,100 acres), the lake is 200 feet deep, making Peigneur the deepest lake in the state. How Drilling a 14 Inch Hole Accidentally Created a 1,300-Foot Deep As billions of gallons of water drained into the mine, the flow of the canal emptying into the lake was completely reversed. The Mining Operations Division, Department of Minerals and Energy, Western Australia. A little later, the rig began to tilt. 1980 - Lake Completely Drains After Drilling Accident - One Man's Blog Amazingly, there were no deaths or serious human injuries as a result of the disaster, though the ecosystem of the lake was forever changed. Gaddison stopped working, and as he trained his eyes towards the drift, he saw a muddy stream more than two feet deep advancing toward the station. PDF Salt Domes - JSTOR The Diamond Crystal Salt Company maintained an active mine at nearby Jefferson Island, with many of its excavations taking place underneath Lake Peigneur. Once you establish how and why and incident happens, then you can brainstorm possible solutions to reduce the risk of a similar incident from happening again. It didnt start out that way. The coordinates were given in one system (Transverse Mercator), but they were used in a different system (Universal Transverse Mercator). They had been probing the floor of Lake Peigneur in Louisiana when their drill suddenly seized up at about 1,230 feet below the murky surface. All of the documentation was lost with the drilling platform, and it was impossible for the MSHA to pin the blame fully on either party. Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. Get your fix of fascinating trivia in our 5-minute newsletter. In minutes, the lake over the dome was transformed into a ravenous crater that even sucked up trees along the shore. Can you imaging watching an entire 1,300 acre, 3.5-billion-gallon lake empty in a matter of a few hours? They had been probing for oil under the floor of Lake Peigneur when their drill suddenly seized up at about 1,230 feet below the muddy surface, and they were unable free it. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. Ocean water from the Gulf of Mexico flowed through the canal and into the draining lake and salt mine. Along with the salt water came another nearby drilling platform, a loading dock, 70 acres of soil, trucks, trees, structures, a parking lot, 11 barges from the canal, and a tug boat. The Lake Peigneur Disaster: How a Misplaced Oil Rig Rewrote the Three dogs were reported killed, however. "The wind was blowing, and everything seemed to go dry on the earth, and we were sitting on the mud. Despite the inconclusive investigation, Texaco and its contractor ended up paying damages in an out-of-court settlement. Days later 9 of the 11 barges resurfaced. Fifty people were underground in the salt mine at the time of the incident. In late 1980, two companies were undertaking paralleland, as it turned out, disastrously uncoordinatedextraction operations in the vicinity of the lake. Fifty miners were racing the rising waters, using mine carts and an agonizingly slow elevator to exit the mine eight at a time. that water was roaring. Use ctrl+ option to select multiple domains / properties. Ad Choices. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Peigneur. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. What was the interpretation error? 1980 - Lake Completely Drains After Drilling Accident. Mineworkers sued for lost wages but lost the case although they did receive a lesser amount in compensation for mental anguish. Want to know more interesting facts? The now generally accepted explanation is that a miscalculation by Texaco regarding their location resulted in the drill puncturing the roof of the third level of the mine. Lake Peigneur is located in the far south of Louisiana. Something terrible was happening as they watched the 150-foot tall rig disappear into a ten-foot deep lake. Quick to the scene was the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), part of the U.S. Department of Labor. I ain't kidding you a bit. Check out https://piavpn.com/PlainlyDifficult for an 83% discount on Private Internet Access! It consumed a drilling rig and 11 barges. Its calamitous history testifies to the chaos that one simple mistake can unleash. All rights reserved. The hole produced a vortex that drained the lake into the mine, filling the enormous caverns that had been left by the removal of salt. Once the situation had stabilized somewhat, and the safety of workers and nearby civilians had been ensured, the agency began a thorough investigation into the cause of the accident. Eventually, the power of the whirlpool was so great that it reversed the flow of the Delcambre Canal which always flowed into the Gulf of Mexico -- completely unprecedented. All rights reserved. Near the northern tip of Vermilion Bay in the US state of Louisiana, lies a small saltwater lake called Peigneur. Due to an error in the interpretation of the coordinate data (latitude and longitude) used to position the drill rig, the drill bit missed its intended target and instead punctured the salt mine below the lake and drilling platform. Water flowing into the caverns of the mine caused air to compress and created 400-foot geysers. 27 Years Ago: Bizarre Drilling Disaster at Lake Peigneur Next, the astounded drillers watched as a whirlpool slowly formed, soon reaching a quarter mile wide and centered over the site of the oil drilling. The next minute it was a roaring whirlpool as the barges, the boat and the rig were sucked into the earth like so many bits of soap going down the bathtub drain. The sudden draining of Lake Peigneur did not end with a dry lake bed. Read on to discover the truth behind this unusual man-made disaster. Accidents Lake Peigneur Drilling Accident Summary: Whilst drilling a test well, a rig crew inadvertently caused a flood in a nearby salt mine. The miners had accidentally penetrated the main shaft of the mine below, and the lake was draining into it. On Nov. 20, 1980, an oil rig in Lake Peigneur was doing exploratory drilling when they punctured the salt dome below Jefferson Island. Meanwhile, in the mine, up to 55 workers saw lights blink coupled with strange sounds in the tunnels. At just over 1,200 feet, their drill seized up. One worker saw incoming water and called an emergency evacuation. Som. The men got off the rig and to shore as quickly as possible. A Cause Map is a visual diagram of the cause and effect relationships that led to the incident. As compensation for damages, Texaco ended up paying $45 million to the owners of the mine and other local businesses, including $12.8 million to the botanical garden and plant nursery, Live Oak Gardens. The Grisly Truth Behind the Byford Dolphin Accident, Re-Cutting the Narrative: A Fresh Look at Lingchi, Chinas Infamous Death by a Thousand Cuts.