Surreal shots of what was once Lake Delton in Wisconsin as photographed over this past weekend (June 28-29)
These are photos taken this past weekend of what was once Lake Delton, Wisconsin.
Until thee weeks ago, the lake spread across 267 acres and held an estimated 600
million gallons of water. During a “normal” late June weekend, Lake Delton would have
been home to frolicking swimmers and folks fishing, boating and taking in the quiet
splendor of one of Wisconsin’s incredibly beautiful locations. Instead, it sits in this
state---emptied in a furious nearly two hour, house-destroying torrent following the
rupture of one of the lake’s rain shores, weakend by this springs record rains which
came on the heel of a winter of record breaking snows.
The water rushed into the Wisconsin River—only 40 feet below. The photos here were
taken by Andrew Bauman, who’s wife Kim works in our Creative Service department here
at WGN and relayed them to us. What is seen here can only be described as surreal, even
eerie—revealing the lake’s muddy bottom---acre after acre of it-----once hidden by
lake waters. Kim tells us one of the shots shows George Mesi and his daughter Hannah
taking in the unbelievable scene before them. It’s worth noting that while Lake Delton is
closed, the Wisconsin Dells are open for business and that’s always plenty to do there.
Our thanks to Kim and Andrew for sharing these photos with us!
Tom Skilling
Photos courtesy of Andrew Bauman