If there’s one thing that’s true about Louisiana, it’s that we have some of the most beautiful waterways in the country. One of the most beautiful lakes in Louisiana happens to be Lake Peigneur, which you’ll find just off the tip of Vermilion Bay in Iberia Parish. More than 30 years ago, a disaster struck and changed the lake forever, and you might remember this historic event. Let’s check it out.

With a maximum depth of 200 feet, Lake Peigneur is the deepest lake in Louisiana, but it wasn’t always that deep.
ANA Morales/Google
Prior to 1980, the lake was fairly shallow, with a maximum depth of about 11 feet.
Ann Riley/Google
But on November 20, 1980, an oil rig owned by Texaco was doing some exploratory drilling and accidentally struck the salt mine underneath the lake.
Neal Bernard/Google

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This caused the lake to drain into the salt mine, resulting in a massive sinkhole that swallowed just about everything in its path including 11 barges, a tugboat, the drilling platform, countless trees, and 65 acres of the surrounding terrain.
Swampan Dutta/Google
There was so much water draining into the caverns that the flow of the Delcambre Canal was reversed, causing salt water from the Gulf to flow into the lake. This back flow created a massive 164-foot waterfall for a few days, the tallest waterfall in Louisiana (but just temporarily).
Wikimedia
Within two days, the lake had transformed from an 11-foot-deep freshwater lake to a 1,300-foot-deep saltwater lake, permanently altering the ecosystem. While this was certainly a massive tragedy for Cajun County, shockingly no lives were lost that day, although three dogs did die.
Nathalia Rocha Dickson/Google
And once the water pressure stabilized and the lake wasn’t a massive whirlpool, nine of the eleven barges popped out of the water and came back to the surface.
Rex Dial/Google
Today, you can still see the chimney of a house that was lost to the drilling disaster.

Have you ever visited Lake Peigneur, or remember the drilling accident? Let us know in the comments below.

The lake is easily visible from the Rip Van Winkle Gardens. If you’d like to visit Rip Van Winkle Gardens, now is a perfect time and you can learn all about this beautiful place in our previous article.

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