According to Lake Geneva Fire Department, 20 cars were as unlucky as to sink through the thin ice during a Winterfest celebration on Saturday afternoon.
Thankfully, the vehicles were unoccupied which resulted in no injuries. The cars however couldn’t all be recovered by the end of the day, as four of them still remained in the freezing cold water. Some of the cars that were removed, were still perfectly operational and their owners were able to drive home.
According to the Dailymail, the reason why officials allowed people to leave their cars on the frozen lake in the first place was of course parking-related, as there weren’t a lot of available spots for the event.
What followed was the ice cracking underneath the vehicles, just as the festival’s judges were getting ready to officiate the US National Snow Sculpting Competition. According to officials, the reason why the lake wasn’t able to hold the weight of the cars, was because the water wasn’t frozen as solid as it was in previous years – which makes sense considering this year’s mild winter conditions.
Considering how Lake Geneva’s annual Winterfest can include fun activities such as sled racing, we can deduce that there was plenty of excitement in the crowd, even before news got out that the frozen water had given in and that the lake was slowly but surely engulfing at least two rows of cars.
Next year’s participants might want to take into account the thickness of the ice before parking their SUVs on the frozen lake.