During the weekend, a heavy thunderstorm caused huge waves on the surface of Lake Tahoe, a tourist destination in California, and a yacht capsized, resulting in a tragedy in which 6 people died and 2 were missing. The US Coast Guard and the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office in California received a report from the public on the afternoon of the 21st that 10 people fell into the lake, and immediately rushed to D.L. Bliss State Park. Two of them were rescued and sent to the hospital.
The weather was the main cause of the capsizing accident. The summer storm moved quickly in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, with strong winds averaging more than 35 miles per hour, and the surface of Lake Tahoe suddenly became turbulent. Between 2:00 and 5:00 p.m. on the 21st, the local temperature suddenly dropped from more than 50 degrees Fahrenheit to near freezing.
The Coast Guard said the incident occurred at about 3 p.m. on the 21st, with winds of about 30 knots and waves of 8 feet high. The 27-foot golden Chris-Craft yacht capsized on the southwest edge of Lake Tahoe, about 60 miles southwest of Reno. Rescue workers and divers were still searching the nearby lake area until the evening of the 21st, and resumed the search and rescue work early on the 22nd.
Local TV station KCRA-TV obtained a live video showing that boats docked at a nearby pier collided with each other under strong waves. The Associated Press reported that it was unclear as of the 22nd how much damage the weather factors had caused in Lake Tahoe.
The Coast Guard said at about 11 a.m. on the 22nd that the aerial search and rescue operation for the two missing tourists had been stopped, but the sea search and rescue would continue.
The El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office issued a statement on its Facebook page saying that all the victims of the boat accident were adults.
According to the police report records on the Sheriff’s Office website, the police received multiple calls for help regarding boat accidents on the 21st. Between 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. on the 21st, emergency incidents occurred at three other locations, including Baldwin Beach in Lake Tahoe, Granite Bay Beach in Folsom, California, and Slab Creek Reservoir in Pollock Pines, California.
