{"id":98177,"date":"2026-07-06T12:52:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T12:52:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/98177\/"},"modified":"2026-07-06T12:52:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T12:52:18","slug":"lake-geneva-community-mourns-after-deadly-storm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/98177\/","title":{"rendered":"Lake Geneva community mourns after deadly storm"},"content":{"rendered":"

LAKE GENEVA, Wis. \u2014\u00a0The Lake Geneva community is mourning and recovering from a violent storm that caused significant tree damage, widespread power outages, and contributed to the tragic deaths of three children.<\/p>\n

What You Need To Know<\/p>\n

Three children were killed in Lake Geneva Friday afternoon after a boat they were on capsized and sank
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Officials say storms generated high winds and waves, causing the boat to quickly take on water
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Seven other people, including one child, were safely rescued from the water
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All four children were wearing life vests, according to the Lake Geneva Police Department<\/p>\n

Sunday mass at St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church took place with a fallen tree in the front yard serving as a stark reminder of Friday\u2019s deadly weather.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

(Spectrum News 1\/Blake Dietz)<\/p>\n

Carol Elsholz, a parishioner at the church, said the last few days have been hard for many and that the faith community has helped her to grieve.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt all of us together felt a sorrow, but a hope of something bigger than these sad days,\u201d Elsholz said. \u201cThat there\u2019s something hopeful.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the Lake Geneva Police Department, a boat carrying 10 people \u2014 including four children \u2014 capsized and sank during the storm. Three children were declared missing in the aftermath and were found and pronounced dead a short time later. Police said the children were wearing lifejackets.<\/p>\n

Bob Nabasny, who owns Oak Terrace Apartments in the city, noted the city\u2019s efforts to prepare for such emergencies.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe city has done everything possible \u2014 they bought, this past year, a patrol boat for the police department to respond to emergencies like that,\u201d Nabasny said. \u201cIn this case, it was [they] just couldn\u2019t get to the kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

His building was one of many in the city still without power. While cleaning up fallen trees and a destroyed shed, Nabasny said it\u2019s hard not to think about what happened on the water.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

(Spectrum News 1\/Blake Dietz)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a bummer. I mean, people are a little depressed about it. Everybody\u2019s talking about it, and everybody loves kids. And it\u2019s a shame it happened,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Resident Martha Bayle said the city has rallied together in the days since the storm. Her apartment also lost power. She was using the city\u2019s YMCA for electricity.<\/p>\n

\u201cImmediately after the storm, I went out for a walk and there were people, even strangers, just showing up in people\u2019s yards and doing the right thing,\u201d Bayle said.<\/p>\n

Though the loss is hard for anyone to comprehend, Elsholz said neighbors are there for support.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not alone because I have felt very, very sad as an older woman thinking, \u2018Here I am. How could we lose these young lives?\u2019\u201d said Elsholz.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know the answer,\u201d she said. \u201cSo, we have to believe.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LAKE GENEVA, Wis. \u2014\u00a0The Lake Geneva community is mourning and recovering from a violent storm that caused significant…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":98178,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[7],"tags":[2890,47846,65,1202,2893,11706,11710],"class_list":["post-98177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-geneva","tag-app-top-stories","tag-blake-dietz","tag-geneva","tag-news","tag-top-stories","tag-vod","tag-wisconsin"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/116873130724611494","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98177\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}