In August of 2013, a sinkhole in Bayou Corne swallowed swamps and resulted in a mandatory evacuation of 350 residents.

The salt mining company, Texas Brine, drilled through a salt dome, which created the sinkhole.

Five years later, film producer Victoria Greene released “The Forgotten Bayou”, a documentary on the lives of those impacted, Texas Brine, and scientists and government officials.

“It wasn’t my job to point any fingers but the facts remain that these people didn’t want to leave and these accidents occur not just in Louisiana but they do occur all over the country.”

The sinkhole spans over 40 acres in the northern part of Assumption Parish. Greene says “Forgotten Bayou” aired at the Vermillion Center in Lafayette last night and she has plans to host the film in other areas of the state in recent months. She says if there is one message to take away from the documentary it’s,

“We need to take care of the people and communication between industry and the community need to be strong from the very beginning that they come into an area and drill.”

Greene says she was not commissioned by the state, Texas Brine, or those affected to create her film. She says there was a culture and community to the people who lived in Bayou Corne and other than the 12 to 14 families that still live there, the rest are spread out around Louisiana and some into Mississippi.

“They don’t have waterfront property like they did. But it was a way of life in that community, when your home backed up to water, people got together every weekend, they had Mardi Gras parades and that part of their life, it’s just gone.”

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