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The World's Weirdest Engineering Disaster [PICS/VIDS]

oddorama.com — Didn’t anyone ever tell you that salt mines, shallow lakes and deep-earth drills shouldn ’t mix? What started as a seemingly minor miscalculation resulted in a billion-gallon flood, unbelievable property damage and the upheaval of an entire ecosystem.

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  • paperclipsNsoup, on 03/20/2008, -4/+21Bet they didn't see that one coming... Probably killed everything in the lake too
    • DroogInPhoenix, on 03/20/2008, -2/+18Severe ***** up is an understatement.
    • jb0nd38372, on 03/20/2008, -28/+2Read the article again, nobody died.
      • ElAssoWipo, on 03/20/2008, -2/+32I don't think he was referring to the "lake people".
    • Punisher2K, on 03/20/2008, -0/+6Ya think? Fresh water lake becomes a salt water lake and there is no "probably" about it.
  • RealmDown, on 03/20/2008, -5/+64Talk about pouring salt in the wound.....
    • breckinshire, on 03/20/2008, -0/+10Bwa bwa bwa...
    • jasonh1234, on 03/20/2008, -0/+10Wouldn't that be more like pouring a wound into salt?
  • slamcut, on 03/20/2008, -1/+24At least that guy got a spiffy hat.
  • moletimer, on 03/20/2008, -0/+12It's amazing that no one died. That whirlpool sounded pretty damn scary. Good job those guys jumped off the boat before they got sucked in. Be an awesome story to tell in the pub, though.
    • karan1003, on 03/20/2008, -0/+3too bad no one would believe you
    • root1657, on 03/20/2008, -1/+1Mythbuster tried the whirlpool of death. Turns out that it wont take your boat down, it just gets you dizzy.
      • MtheoryX, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1Well, this video would say otherwise:
        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHol4ICeDoo

        Go to about 1:56 and tell me that barge that was "sucked into the hole" and tell me again what you just said.

        You know, since it's actually footage of the event and all. Do a little research on your own instead of blindly following the Mythbuster crews pseudo-scientific declarations of fact.
  • chewbacca77, on 03/20/2008, -1/+24Amazing. It looks like the northern shore still has signs of the damage: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=lake+peigneur&ie=UTF ...
  • H410, on 03/20/2008, -91/+0wow... heres another one: http://x.cursedsanctuary.com/
    • NonLeftistDiggr, on 03/20/2008, -0/+14***** you and your mom
    • KraftDinner101, on 03/20/2008, -0/+17Everyone report this *****.
      • borez, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1We all did and look...his profile seems to have been deleted.

        Bad day at black rock for that kid
    • borez, on 03/20/2008, -0/+13Reported
    • debuggercll, on 03/20/2008, -2/+10A+ for creativity. F- for applying it towards evil.
      • itsthebrod, on 03/20/2008, -0/+5Since when is spamming websites in comments creative?
    • UberNick, on 03/20/2008, -0/+11what's the link of? don't want to click at work.
      • debuggercll, on 03/20/2008, -0/+7It's rick roll youtube video on a page with malicious javascript. It spams you with the lyrics of the song with alerts, one line per pop-up. Only way to stop is to kill your browser's process (task manager in windows, process manager in Ubuntu).
      • bejayel, on 03/20/2008, -0/+9*Clicks the link at school*
        *Thinks "Please dont be goatse, please dont be goatse"
        And its a rick roll that resizes the window and makes it skip around on you to stop you from hitting the x button. Simple disable javascript fixed it though.
    • eltrev, on 03/20/2008, -1/+2gotta report that one.
    • Acolyte357, on 03/20/2008, -0/+4No-Script ftw
    • borez, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1Seems you've been deleted. Oops!
  • skabyss, on 03/20/2008, -0/+13Really fascinating story, watch the video though, the pics and description do it no justice.
  • eltrev, on 03/20/2008, -1/+11All that from a 14 inch drill bit.
    • consoneo, on 03/20/2008, -0/+5Yeah and the thousands of man hours it took to dig the salt mine :)
    • breckinshire, on 03/20/2008, -0/+12That's what she said!
  • borez, on 03/20/2008, -0/+52Right lads...From now on, next time we drill, we do one of those survey things first.
    • itsthebrod, on 03/20/2008, -0/+13Can't, need oil now for SUV.
    • GuacamoleSan, on 03/20/2008, -0/+2Its a shame how horribly mining and developing is destroying our planet
  • plundstedt, on 03/20/2008, -1/+2I prefer to buy my fish as well.
  • DrDigg, on 03/20/2008, -2/+3This has made it to the frontpage a few times, but still is an amazing story. Definately watch the video.
  • akcoder, on 03/20/2008, -0/+7This was on Modern Marvels about 5 years ago. Very interesting piece. If I recall correctly, something like 12 barges got sucked down the hole, and 10 of them popped back up when the water stopped draining into the salt mine because the mine had filled up.
    • DiggzDE, on 03/20/2008, -1/+5Or you could watch the youtube video included and they tell you the real number.
      • akcoder, on 03/20/2008, -0/+5You tube is blocked at work...
        • alecks, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1try it without the "www." or by ip address...

          works here
          • bradleyland, on 03/20/2008, -0/+5Can I get the number for your HR department? Sounds like easy pickin's for a job in IT over there.
  • TheRealMisterd, on 03/20/2008, -0/+2mirror needed: (Firewall)
  • happywaffle, on 03/20/2008, -0/+24No, for weirdest, I'm gonna have to go with the molasses flood: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molasses_Flood
    • screensnot, on 03/20/2008, -0/+25Now that's a sticky situation.
      • breckinshire, on 03/20/2008, -0/+5I repeat... bwa bwa bwa
        • bradleyland, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1Jesus, it's like Rowan & Martin day up in here.
    • Patrickdnj, on 03/20/2008, -2/+1bow chicka wa wa..........................chicka wa chicka wa
  • ahecht, on 03/20/2008, -13/+7drilling != engineering
    • jun2san, on 03/20/2008, -2/+19I'm sorry but it takes a lot of engineering to be able to drill.
    • gkwillie, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1You are right. Those department of mining and resource engineering at all those universities are just for tax evasion purposes.

      And that whole breX thing a couple of years back? Never happened. Government conspiracy.
  • Jareth86, on 03/20/2008, -6/+7"if there's one lesson to take from this, its that a small mistake can have huge consequences."
    Um... how about "don't ***** with nature"?
  • glucoseboy, on 03/20/2008, -1/+2Old but still cool
  • pandikukka, on 03/20/2008, -0/+2Insane stuff.."It created a 150 foot water fall" amazing what a small mistake did.
  • feeback, on 03/20/2008, -3/+13***** SALT!!!
    • DinosWillDie13, on 03/20/2008, -2/+6How dare you. I love salt.
    • Phlake, on 03/20/2008, -1/+3Wouldn't that sting? To each his own, I guess....
    • DemonWasp, on 03/20/2008, -1/+1Hey, if he wants to live without salt, fine.

      Side note: we need the ions found in salts for our nervous system to work.
      • radix2, on 03/21/2008, -1/+1iodine...
        • DemonWasp, on 03/21/2008, -1/+1We still need sodium and potassium, both of which tend to be found in the forms NaCl and KCl - salts.
    • WhatsUpWithJack, on 03/21/2008, -0/+2*sigh* you all seem to have missed the meme.

      Tourette's Guy, ftw?
  • cjwl, on 03/20/2008, -0/+7The Indonesian mud volcano seems about the same weirdness and far worse.

    http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518 ...
    • jezsik, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1Ah, yes. Louisiana had a lake turn salty and lost a bit of property one day, but that mud volcano has eaten hundreds of homes and is till growing today!
    • 2oonhed, on 03/21/2008, -0/+1That mud volcano is a pretty awesome story, and the rains to come will just add to the problems there. I wonder how long that drainage to the river will work?
  • ianstein, on 03/20/2008, -0/+13We get it already, the people of Louisiana and water do not go well together.
  • sx66gns, on 03/20/2008, -4/+1Good post , thanks for sharing.
  • Mootabolife, on 03/20/2008, -0/+5Watch where you stick your dingy next time.
  • poihead, on 03/20/2008, -1/+2"I thought it was the end of the world!"
  • Wosat, on 03/20/2008, -0/+2I've been to Jefferson Island. If you take the tour, this entire story is told on a barge while the operator steers it in a circle, creating an unnerving vortex in the water.
  • badbit, on 03/20/2008, -2/+1Is it just me or is everything 150 feet around this lake? Trees, oil rigs, waterfalls ...
  • MrSkyGuy, on 03/20/2008, -4/+1The iHole.
  • triggerfinger, on 03/20/2008, -2/+2Complete forum thread on Engineering Disasters here http://forums.thomasnet.com/viewtopic.php?t=37
  • agentVivid, on 03/20/2008, -2/+1did anyone ever read "Descent into the Malestrom" by Edgar Allen Poe?
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Descent_into_the_Ma ...
  • PhattyPhattMatt, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1Haha, oops... Try explaining that one to the insurance company? "We were just drillin' when we noticed something weird..."
  • vorakthemad, on 03/20/2008, -2/+3Damn Interesting did an article on this a while back with some more detail. Pretty crazy disaster.

    http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=6
  • Otto, on 03/20/2008, -0/+11Video on the topic! From the History Channel:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHol4ICeDoo
    • IphtashuFitz, on 03/20/2008, -0/+4I remember watching that History Channel show on this disaster. The video footage was absolutely amazing. Seeing it actually happen brings a whole additional level to understanding what happened there.
  • catesbysimpson, on 03/20/2008, -1/+1This is the kind of insanely awesome thing I came to digg for in the first place.
  • rynTAU, on 03/20/2008, -1/+2Why do we mine for salt, can't we just evaporate ocean water?
    • jezsik, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1We do, but it's either time consuming or energy intensive. With mining we just haul the stuff out by the ton.
    • OverlordXenu, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1Salt is mainly used for industrial purposes, that's too slow and doesn't yield enough.
  • daxsymbiont, on 03/20/2008, -1/+2soil mechanics/geotechnics is tough stuff.
  • dbalaski, on 03/20/2008, -4/+1I would call this more a tactical/operational error... as someone else said -- Drilling != Engineering
    ..
    Weird Engineering would be more like the Tacoma Narrows Bridge
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacoma_Narrows_Bridge ...
    or maybe
    Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Disaster (Definitely an engineering problem there !! )
    or maybe
    The Vasa : 17th Century Ship that was built top-heavy with insufficient ballast and foundered and sunk in 32 meters of water just 120 meters from shore as soon as she encountered a wind stronger than a breeze... . The Ship sank after sailing less than a nautical mile (2 km) into her maiden voyage on August 10, 1628.
    or maybe
    The Hindenburg and/or R101 Airship explosions
    • Morality, on 03/20/2008, -1/+1Hey the main reactor just melted down and destroyed the landscape.

      Weird I know?

      Dumbass.
      • dbalaski, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1No you obviously know nothing of the disaster at Chernobyl
        gkwillie's reply summarizes better what happened -- designed with a critical flaw (and idiot management practice/test))
    • gkwillie, on 03/20/2008, -0/+5Chernobyl had much more to do with retarded managerial practices then the engineers. There was a critical design flaw in that, if the temperature sensor got too hot, it would give a null reading, and that is what happened.

      But, all of the engineers safety practices were promptly ignored by those damn red managers, who needed the (ironically) safety tests to be completed, despite the complaints from some engineers. These tests involved taking off the redundancies of the system, something no engineer should ever need to design for, and THEN, running the whole damn system below the minimum extreme operational parameters. Surprise! *****. Same ***** thing happened with Challenger and Columbia.

      Tacoma Narrows.. that sucked, that was definitely a design problem caused by insufficient knowledge of the wind patterns, and an unfortunately compatible resonance frequency of the bridge. We did learn though, you don't see any suspension bridges nowadays collapsing because of an induced resonant vibration due to wind.

      Engineers get no damn credit.
    • dbalaski, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1I stand corrected on drilling

      To drill, first you need to survey to ensure you are drilling in the right location -- okay civil engineering issue there
  • JointVenture, on 03/20/2008, -1/+2Dugg down for not being able to find a way to blame this on America.
  • weebmac, on 03/20/2008, -0/+10Fascinating event. Absolutely worthless blog regurgitation. Very confusing synopsis of the story. Check out the Damn Interesting article if you really want to learn about how this went down:

    http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=6
    • WolfDV, on 03/21/2008, -0/+1I love that site .. some very good articles on there
  • zantos420, on 03/20/2008, -1/+2i'd hate to be the guy responsible for that...
    • Xibby, on 03/21/2008, -0/+1No blame was ever assigned. Any evidence that could be used to assign blame is at the bottom of a 1200 foot water filled salt mine.
  • n3xu5, on 03/20/2008, -4/+2I drink up your milkshake!
  • halobender, on 03/20/2008, -2/+1What's with all the f*cking World's, biggest, craziest blah blah blah today.
  • bernlin2000, on 03/20/2008, -1/+1That' pretty friggin amazing: and nobody died too, which is the most remarkable part, considering the fact an entire lake drained into a salt mine that had PEOPLE in it...geeze
  • vidorian, on 03/20/2008, -1/+8I used to live on lake peigneur. Had friends that worked in the mine at the time this happened. Been many years but the story was the bucket that brought the men up carried 8 and 9 worked there just so happened someone called in sick that day.
    Those that were on the lake at the time described it like pulling the stopper out of a bath tub.

    There is a big thing going on right now where the lake was bubbling a couple months back and they are trying to find a cause.

    An investigation to determine what happened at Lake Peigneur is under way eight weeks after a January incident unsettled several residents in the area.

    U.S. Department of Transportation representatives will accompany state Department of Natural Resources’ Office of Pipeline Safety officials on an inspection of the natural gas facility at Jefferson Island, owned and run by Atlanta-based AGL Resources. This inspection is being made at the request of the Iberia Parish Council.

    On Jan. 29, a loud release of natural gas from the facility following a power outage alarmed many residents of the Lake Peigneur area. As a result, members of the community action group Save Lake Peigneur petitioned the Parish Council to request involvement at both the state and federal levels in investigating the matter.

    U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu’s, D-La., office confirmed the senator’s intention to ensure the Jan. 29 incident does not repeat itself.

    “We have full faith and confidence in the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources,” said Stephanie Allen, Landrieu’s press secretary. “At the request of the Iberia Parish Council, Sen. Landrieu has asked U.S. DOT officials to take part in the inspection.”

    Also at issue is AGL Resources intention to withdraw 5.18 million gallons of drinking water per day, for four years, from two underground caverns at the Jefferson Island Facility.

    Stephen Langlinais, engineer and member of the board of Save Lake Peigneur, said the two caverns are approximately the same size as the former twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. Specifically, Langlinais cites concerns that drilling will increase the current south to north flow from the Chico Aquifer, resulting in the increased encroachment of salt water from the Gulf of Mexico into area water supplies.

    “Several farmers are already experiencing saltwater concentration in their irrigation wells, which are too high for use in irrigating their rice crops,” Langlinais said at a meeting held by Save Lake Peigneur March 11. “They are having to abandon their expensive farm irrigation wells.”

    Keith Poston, managing director of corporate communications at AGL Resources, said his company has the utmost confidence in it’s internal safety measures and welcomes any review of the matter.

    “We’ve now completed our internal review of the Jan. 29th gas release at JISH, and have determined the exact amount of gas released was 214.3 Mcf (1,000 cubic feet), not 146 Mcf as originally estimated during the event,” he said. “As I mentioned before, regardless of the exact amount, there was never any risk to the public.

    “In addition, while the Louisiana State Police was notified within one hour as required, the Vermilion Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness was not notified, which is in fact part of our own plan. We have since met with the director of the Vermilion OHSEP and reviewed our operations and reporting plans going forward.”
  • CyberSally, on 03/20/2008, -2/+1Not Found
    The requested URL /2008/02/25/the-worlds-weirdest-engineering-disaster was not found on this server.
    Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

    Anyone have a mirror?
  • framitz, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1What about the catastrophe that created the Salton Sea in California?
    Or what about the great molasses flood?
    This incident pales in comparison to either.
  • cizzop, on 03/20/2008, -0/+6MIRROR:

    http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:NSXAzMvR8a0J: ...

    thank you google cache!
  • dupswapdrop, on 03/20/2008, -2/+1So now we know how mr bush's first oil well turned out!
  • BossKey, on 03/20/2008, -0/+3If any event ever deserved the phrase "epic fail" ...
  • TimmyOToole, on 03/20/2008, -2/+4EPOCH FAIL !
    • Duositex, on 03/26/2008, -0/+1Why would you say this? It doesn't even come close to applying... not funny.
  • mzkply, on 03/21/2008, -0/+1As an engineer myself (aerospace eng, not civil) I'm a little surprised to read about salt pillars...
  •  

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