What began as a serene summer afternoon on Lake Tahoe turned deadly within minutes, as a sudden storm whipped the lake into chaos, capsizing multiple boats and leaving eight people dead.
Gloria Brigantino and her friends were anchored on the famously blue waters of Lake Tahoe, enjoying rum cocktails and the festive mood of the first official summer weekend. Nearby, a live band played onshore, and families swam and relaxed in the sun. But as the breeze picked up and a chill set in, the weather quickly turned.
Without warning, fierce winds reaching 35mph (56 km/h) swept across the lake. Tents and canopies were ripped from the ground, and swells up to 8 feet (2.5 meters) battered the shoreline. Whitecaps formed across the surface, tossing boats into one another and driving some onto the rocks.
“It happened suddenly,” Brigantino told the BBC. “The water was just screaming toward the shore.”
A 27-foot tourist boat carrying ten people capsized in the storm. On Monday, authorities confirmed the discovery of two additional bodies from the vessel, raising the confirmed death toll to eight. Only two people aboard survived. The El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office has yet to release the identities of the victims, stating that notifications to families are still underway.
Brigantino, who was visiting from Texas with friends from California, watched the chaos unfold from the safety of the shore after disembarking just before the storm hit. The boat they had been on capsized minutes later, taking some of their belongings down with it.
“I saw boats crashing into each other, tearing loose from their anchors, slamming onto shore,” she said. “Some boat owners were crying as their vessels were destroyed. People were risking their lives to help unload passengers from charter boats. Everyone was trying to get off the lake as fast as they could.”
The storm’s intensity was startling. For a brief moment, even snow fell as the winds howled and waves crashed. The band packed up and fled; their stage was left submerged in the rising waters. Brigantino said she saw gas leaking into the lake and watched as rescuers helped passengers off a pontoon boat that had been smashed against the shoreline.
“People ran off the boat, some fell off, many were crying,” she said. “Within 35 minutes of us getting back to shore, there were nine boats piled up in front of us.”
Brigantino, who grew up around Lake Tahoe and now works in the Western industry, had come with her friends to relax and shoot themed content. Photos from earlier that day show the group dancing and posing in cowboy hats, unaware of the approaching danger.
While a weather warning had been issued, no one expected such a powerful squall. Locals and visitors alike said they hadn’t seen a storm of this intensity on Lake Tahoe in decades — if ever.
The tragedy unfolded in the lake’s southwestern corner, a region known for sunshine and calm alpine waters surrounded by the Sierra Nevada mountains. Lake Tahoe, the largest alpine lake in North America, is typically a haven for summer recreation, not disaster.
Remarkably, the storm disappeared as quickly as it arrived. By 4:30 p.m., Brigantino’s videos show the lake had calmed, the skies had cleared, and the iconic sapphire waters had returned. But the damage was done.
“The storm was forecast, but nobody imagined something like this,” she said. “It was bad. Really bad.”
