Miracle on Lake Peneur: how a small hole carried 11 barges, cars, houses into the underground world (5 photos)

Lake Peneur is located in the US state of Louisiana and was freshwater until 1980, but then it became salty. How? As a result of a real man-made and environmental disaster, which, however, was not without a kind of miracle. If only because no one died.





The name of this lake comes from the French word Peigneur (Crest), it was a shallow reservoir, no more than 3 meters, 5 square kilometers, convenient shores. They say it is a favorite vacation spot for locals.

However, under the bottom of the lake, at a depth of several hundred meters, salt was being mined and there were many mines. Plus, a local oil and gas company was actively searching for oil.



It was on October 21, 1980, early in the morning, but when almost everyone had already gone to work, the drillers screwed up badly by making a hole at the bottom of the lake leading straight into one of the salt mines. The reason is incorrect calculations; the well itself was not initially large, 35 centimeters in diameter.

But water rushed into the empty mine, washing out the well - a real huge whirlpool appeared at the site of the accident, the funnel grew to 55 meters in diameter. A drilling rig, 11 barges, a tugboat, a dock, an island with a botanical garden, houses and trucks were swept into this hole along with the water.





The most amazing thing, the very miracle, is that all the miners managed to get out, from the deepest mines (more than 400 meters) they were already getting out straight from the water, but the elevators lifted people, and then they were also dragged into the abyss. Even a local fisherman, who managed to row his boat to the shore at the last moment, was saved.

In general, all the water, more than 13 million cubic meters, has left the lake. Since the lake itself was connected by a long canal to the Gulf of Mexico (where the water from the lake went), the following happened - the water level in the canal dropped by more than a meter, the current changed and the reservoir was filled with salt water.



Interestingly, when the water level rose, 9 of the 11 barges that sank in this once shallow lake surfaced. The entire ecosystem around Lake Peneur has, of course, completely changed - but now it is a unique salt lake.

It is worth noting that in the end no one was punished - neither for mistakes nor for negligence. The question remains - either they drilled in the wrong place, or the mine maps were made with an error. It was not possible to check - there were no more mines. But several people received awards for their heroism during the tragedy.