Lake Garda Surges with Sudden Wave, Unexplained Swell Baffles Locals

It was as if the lake had let out a deep sigh. In the midst of a calm, with not a breath of wind in the sickly noon sun, the surface of Lake Garda rose suddenly and then lowered again, by about a meter, according to witnesses scattered between the port of piazza Catena and punta Lido.

Interventions and testimonies

Paolo and Ruggero Furletti saw the water swell and rise along the shore until it seized the rental pedal boats lined up in neat rows on the sands of punta Lido, smashing them against each other. Luigi Crosina, at 2:30 pm, had gone to get a bite to eat: when he returned, he found the stern mooring line of his motorboat torn, and the water from the Rocca Channel towards Brolio was muddy and brown.

Navigation authorities confirmed that the boat already docked gave a jolt, slightly crushing the gangway, which had remained attached for the crew even after passengers disembarked. It happened that a large mass of stones and rocks, dumped to build the lakeside promenade—despite surveys and the inclination of the seabed—did not stay firmly in place but moved toward the deep and disappeared. Diving toward the bottom, it caused a strong suction, and the wave propagated up to a few hundred meters away was the signal of this event.

Considerations and conclusions

Aside from the loss of a few truckloads of stones, there were no damages. But throughout the afternoon, questions swirled: excluding an earthquake, which would have been felt on land, people wondered what could have caused something that no one, not even older residents, had ever seen before on Garda.