Everything's Bigger in Texas: Lake Texoma Vortex Sparks Concern After YouTube Video
Fear of drowning? Be sure to stay away from Lake Texoma on the Oklahoma-Texas border.
Twitter and media outlets have been blowing up after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers posted a YouTube video of an 8-foot-wide intake vortex that is "capable of sucking in a full size boat."
Don't Fall Into The Lake Texoma Intake Vortex via Digg http://t.co/nlqgPHOYxl
— Steve Duncan (@imsteveduncan) June 24, 2015
This is happening at Lake Texoma, where my sister's lake house is!! Scary!! @robert_manners @CindyReynolds https://t.co/PbUqj51xnD
— Morgan Fairchild (@morgfair) June 25, 2015
However, have no fear. Lake Texoma Assistant Lake Manager B.J. Parkey told Business Insider that the scene is normal -- the lake is just being drained due to heavy rainfall. Parkey compared the lake vortex to emptying a bathtub.
For safety's sake, the U.S. Army Corps marked off the area with buoys and signs to keep people away. And, despite reports that the vortex is 8 feet wide, Parkey said the diameter for vortexes are subject to change and it was likely smaller than that.
Vortexes and whirlpools occur naturally in oceans around the world. One has been off the coast of Maine for hundreds of years, and Naruto City, Japan, is known is for its natural whirlpools.
Still, whirlpools can be dangerous if you get caught in one -- as an Australian "daredevil" found out in 2014.
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