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."
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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