article-imageBayou Corne Sinkhole in August 2012 (via Assumption Parish Police Jury)

A sinkhole in Louisiana was filmed ingesting a whole patch of the bayou this week. The Bayou Corne Sinkhole as it is know has been gradually eating away at more of the earth in Assumption Parish since it appeared last August. The bayou at first bubbled strangely like a boiling pot before it gaped open like a hungry mouth.

It’s believed to be caused by a salt dome cavern that is collapsing, and the town of Assumption Parish has been evacuated as the sinkhole continues to expand, adding another 17 acres to its girth since this January for a total of 25 acres.

Watch the horror captured by the Assumption Parish Office of Emergency Preparedness as towering cypress trees vanish as if they were never there:

You can keep up to date on the expansion and containment of the Bayou Corne Sinkhole on the Assumption Parish Police Jury blog.