Brutal Storms Wreak Havoc As 20,000 Evacuated From Sydney Festival

Intense storms that raged through Sydney over the weekend wreaked havoc with several of the city’s music festivals, including Soundwave, Good Life, and Between The Bays. Stages at Soundwave had to be temporarily shut down, while the latter two events were cancelled entirely.

According to a recent NSW Police statement, police and festival staff had to evacuate almost 20,000 punters from the popular under-18s festival, which acts as an underage counterpart to Future Music Festival, which also went down in Sydney over the weekend.

The event reportedly kicked off at midday on Sunday at the Randwick Racecourse. However, mid-afternoon storms with wind gusts reaching 91km/h caused damage to the main stages and caused major structural weaknesses, making them unsafe to use.

Punters were told to remain in the Randwick Racecourse grandstands until the storm passed, before being transported to pick-up zones at Moore Park and Central Station by bus. Police commended the teenaged punters on their behaviour and compliance will police requests.

Following storm warnings, Good Life organisers informed punters that should a storm arrive, the festival would be temporarily suspended. Organisers soon issued a statement informing punters and parents that the festival had been cancelled.

Meanwhile, Soundwave saw the temporary closure of two main stages. The hard rock event, which took place at Olympic Park, closed the stages just after 4pm, with a set by All Time Low cut short due to water damage sustained to their instruments and gear.

Organisers of the 10th annual Between The Bays Festival were also forced to cut the event short, shutting down at 8.20pm during a set by James Reyne. According to a statement, “gail force winds [caused] havoc to non-temporary structures, tents, the Ferris wheel and kids jumping castles”.

Despite the unfortunate cancellations, no one was injured during the devastating storms, which, as Sky News reports, damaged a shop on George Street in The Rocks, while fire and rescue teams attended to 25 downed trees and 10 downed power lines.

Post by Good Life Festival.