Three children died after a boat capsized on Geneva Lake in Wisconsin’s Walworth County during a fierce Fourth of July storm — and authorities confirmed that all four children aboard the vessel had been wearing life jackets at the time.
The lake, located in a region of Southern Wisconsin long popular with vacationers from the Chicago area, became the site of a devastating holiday tragedy after a sudden and powerful storm swept through. The storm also toppled trees, snapped power lines, and made roads dangerous across several states.
According to a statement from Lake Geneva’s police department, a privately owned recreational motorboat with 10 people on board — including four children — attempted to reach shore quickly as conditions deteriorated. The boat was overwhelmed by powerful winds and waves, took on water, and eventually sank.
Rescuers pulled six adults and one child from the water alive. However, three children recovered during an extensive search were unresponsive, and lifesaving efforts administered immediately upon finding them were unsuccessful, police said.
In the wake of the storm, Lake Geneva Mayor Todd Krause declared a local emergency. He noted that one person sustained minor injuries after a falling tree struck them, and that downed trees and power lines blocked several streets throughout the area.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the Geneva Lake Law Enforcement Agency launched investigations into the incident.
The deadly storm was part of a broader pattern of severe weather that swept across the Midwest and Northeast on Friday, forcing numerous cities to call off Independence Day festivals and push back fireworks shows. In Belleville, New Jersey, Mayor Frank Velez announced the celebration would be rescheduled to next year, telling residents: “While we’re disappointed we couldn’t celebrate together tonight, your safety will always come first.”
A violent storm that struck the New York area late Friday left hundreds of thousands of utility customers in the dark, halted train service to New Jersey, and damaged or uprooted thousands of trees. When combined with storm damage across the Midwest, nearly one million people were without electricity. By midday on July Fourth, roughly 750,000 utility customers remained powerless across Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, and New Jersey.
Despite the storms, dangerous heat returned quickly. By noon on July Fourth, temperatures in parts of the Northeast were climbing back toward triple digits. Forecasters predicted additional storms later in the day would bring relief, with significantly cooler temperatures expected heading into the new week.
