Cracks form in levee around Bayou Corne sinkhole

The protective levee ringing the Bayou Corne-area sinkhole in Assumption Parish has redeveloped cracks for a second time in less than two months amid an intensive wave of underground micro-tremors, parish officials said.

The cracks have formed along the southern levee, or berm, near the Bayou Corne waterway and in the same area where a previous round of cracks developed in late October, officials said. The cracking at that time, which has since been repaired, coincided with some sinking of the levee in that area.

The earth-and-limestone levee keeps the 26-acre sinkhole’s salty and at times oily contents from invading and killing the freshwater swamps surrounding the lake-like sinkhole.

The sinkhole appeared in August 2012 in swamps between the Grand Bayou and Bayou Corne communities after part of the supporting wall of a salt dome cavern operated by Texas Brine Co. collapsed deep underground.

The sinkhole has taken an oval shape with the longer ends focused along growth zones moving toward the northeast and southwest, or toward La. 70 and the Bayou Corne waterway.

The most recent projections do not suggest the sinkhole will reach either, but the sinkhole is edging closer to the southern levee just north of Bayou Corne, according to Texas Brine planning and survey documents filed with the state Department of Natural Resources. TRUNews