‘Beautiful in a horrifying way.’ Video shows lush Louisiana lake like it’s rarely seen

A lush Louisiana lake has turned frigid, its greenery bowed with ice and its Spanish Moss turned to icicles, video shows.

With much of the southern U.S. gripped by winter weather of an intensity rarely seen in the region, the sight of Lake Fausse Pointe frozen is intriguing and distressing to southerners. The lake is part of a state park about 130 miles west of New Orleans.

“Beautiful … in a horrifying way,” as one social media commenter put it.

Another simply noted, “Umm that’s not normal at all.”

Some expressed worry for the wildlife — deer, bobcats, alligators — at Lake Fausse.

“Eerie and scary,” one comment said. “This will be very difficult for the creatures.”

The video, taken and originally posted to Twitter on Wednesday by apparent Louisiana resident @louisianaboater, is garnering attention and had been retweeted nearly 2,000 times by Thursday afternoon.

@louisianaboater took the video during an airboat ride on Tuesday.

For comparison, the videographer posted a different video of the lake, looking much greener, prior to the winter storms, saying “In all fairness it’s usually like this.”

Winter storms have caused power outages for hundreds of thousands in the south, damaging infrastructure and homes, and claiming lives.

At least three Louisiana residents have died due to the cold, from exposure and from slipping and falling, outlets report, including a 77-year-old man who slid into a swimming pool and drowned.

Nearly 40,000 homes were without power statewide as of Wednesday night, WBRZ reported.

This story was originally published February 18, 2021 at 5:48 PM.