Over the July Fourth holiday, a combination of searing heat and severe weather affects large parts of the United States, with widespread utility outages and storm damage reported across multiple states. In southern Wisconsin, in Walworth County near Geneva Lake, authorities say a weather-related incident leaves three children dead. Reports describe the children as being on a boat that capsized during storms over the lake; authorities state they were wearing life jackets at the time.
At the same time, severe conditions accompany the holiday period. PBS NewsHour reports that storms down trees, rupture power lines, and make travel hazardous, with disruptions extending across state lines. The outages are described as widespread, and other coverage notes that hundreds of thousands of utility customers lose power as storms and heat wave conditions move through the region. Officials assess damage and work to restore services while monitoring ongoing weather impacts.
