ADVERTISEMENT When a Californian man recently flew his drone over a nearby lake, he was utterly mind blown by what he saw. As he looked through the drone’s camera, he thought at first that he was staring into a deep black hole. But when he descended for a closer inspection, the unthinkable happened. Astonishing Sight David Burgman captured these incredible pictures over Lake Berryessa, Napa County’s largest lake. While David was taking his drone for a spin over the lake, he never imagined in his wildest dreams what he was about to see.

Swirling Vortex The water was rushing down a vortex looking black hole that had appeared in the middle of the lake. Water was swirling into it at full speed being pulled by a force of some sort, but where was it going to and how did it get there?

Come Closer David lowered his drone closer and closer to the mouth of the roaring monstrous hole. Suddenly the drone started to get dragged in.

Glory Hole “When I lowered the drone into the ‘Glory Hole,’ it became unstable and almost crashed into the side,” he explained. As he flew closer to the hole, in a panic, he began to struggle with the controls.

What Happened Next? Lake Berryessa has approximately 521 billion gallons of water. At its fullest capacity, the surface of the reservoir will then rise to over 400 feet above sea level. Yet if it reaches its limit, the excess water needs somewhere to go, but where? Did David’s drone get swallowed up by the vortex?

Flow River Flow California is renowned for its dry weather and even frequent droughts, so theoretically, overflowing should never be a problem for this lake. In fact- in October 2016 the lake was not even half-full. So how come so much water was here now?

Whether The Weather Unusually heavy rainfall happened to hit California in January and February 2017, this was totally unexpected and caused significant damage throughout. It also filled Napa County’s waters up to bursting point and set the Lake Berryessa “Glory Hole” into its swirling vortex action. Thankfully David’s drone survived the powerful pull, but others weren’t so lucky…

Glory Hole The Glory Hole that seems to be a gateway to another dimension, sits just a few feet from the concrete lip of the Monticello Dam. Its vortex like shape is what drew in David’s drone and thousands who witnessed it.

Huge Plug Hole When the water level rises to the 440-foot mark, the catalyst effect kicks into action, and the glory hole starts sucking away the extra water like a giant plug hole.

Spiralling Out Of Control At more than two million gallons per minute, the huge amount of flowing water spiraling down the funnel is astonishing. Imagine nearly four Olympic swimming pools’ worth of water.

Sink Hole Surprise The astonishing sight at Lake Berryessa attracted hundreds of astounded visitors, desperate to see the Glory Hole from the ground and in the air. We can see why! However the area was not safe.

Internet Frenzy The phenomenon at Lake Berryessa has caused a stir all over the internet, and this frenzy has made people from far and wide visit the site.

Instagram sensation Instagram users from all over the world were taking to the social media platform to discuss the event.

Pornographic Connotations The lake’s provocative nickname has even prompted some stern warnings on Twitter, with users advised not to hashtag images and videos of the phenomenon with ‘Glory Hole’ because of its pornographic connotations.

Give A Dam Lake Berryessa is the seventh largest man-made lake in California, it was filled in the 1950s after the completion of the Monticello Dam. At over 300 feet tall, the Monticello Dam supplies water and electricity to nearly 600,000 people all over the Sacramento Valley and San Francisco’s North Bay.

A Sad Tale In 1997, a local woman named Emily Schwalek suffered a terrible mishap, when she spent 20 minutes desperately clinging for her life onto the concrete rim of the spillway. Sadly she lost her grip and fell and died.

A Thing Of Beauty Spillways have long been considered a simple engineering necessity, but thanks to new technology and the help of David’s drone, the true beauty of these structures can be revealed from ground to air.

Nature’s Finest Bizarre and beautiful all rolled into one. The dams constantly face danger if the rains are high.

Oroville Spillway The situation means that large areas have to be evacuated in case of a sudden tidal wave. In fact, some 200,000 people were forced to flee for their lives when it was discovered that a 30-foot-deep hole had opened up in the Oroville spillway.

Scary Situation A National news phenomenon occurred as they were told to evacuate the Oroville area north of Sacramento when workers discovered a lot of damage in two of the Oroville Dam’s spillways. The Oroville Dam is the tallest dam in the country and is a crucial part of California’s water system. This was a serious issue.

Water Rising Fast There was a hole found in the main spillway, meaning that water began to rise at an extremely dangerous rate. This was the first time that this has happened, and an emergency plan of action needed to be put in place suddenly.

Urgent Emergency The emergency spillway was used for the first time ever recorded in the dam’s history. However, they weren’t out of the dog house just yet. One thing after another kept hitting the worker. Next erosion damage was found in the emergency spillway. This meant that an evacuation order was necessary, and officials described the scene as manic.

A Sight Worth Seeing “I went up there the other day and there were about 15 drones flying around and people taking videos,” said Kevin King, an operations manager at the Solano Irrigation District, he is in charge of daily activities at the dam. He went on to remark “It’s really dramatic to watch.”

Shocking Spillway Spillways come in many shapes and sizes. The one at Berryessa is called the “bellmouth”. The structure works a lot like the hole in the side of your sink or bathtub, which keeps water from spilling out onto the floor if someone leaves the tap running. With a reservoir, it works when the rain won’t stop, which has been the case here.

History In The Making This is an image someone uploaded to Instagram of the Lake Oroville Dam Spillway. History was in the making here, as the images shows the Auxiliary Spillway at Lake Oroville Dam spilling down a hillside and into the Feather River.

Disappointed Visitor Another Instagram user wrote ‘my family likes to visit Oroville when the towns getting evacuated just so we can drink beer by the Dam and pray it doesn’t break’.

Life Is Like A River This photo is of the water released from the emergency spillway. The image proves the sheer power of water, and why the evacuation was needed so desperately.

Don’t Give Up The Day Job The workers at the Dam had a very scary job of having to inspect the damage and growing hole inside the Oroville Dam. This was shown in the news.

Don’t Go Chasing Waterfalls This powerful image pictures water cascading down the crumbling spillway of the Oroville Dam.

Interesting Footage This interesting footage shows the sheer difference just a few years can make, after a huge drought in Oroville in 2014, and if you compare this now! it’s amazing to think you just can’t predict what could happen.

Burglary Rates Rise With The Water Can you believe, that there were actually a number of recorded burglaries and robberies that targeted fleeing residents during the evacuation? Officials stated that just hours after authorities ordered more than 100,000 people to flee, the incidents took place.