STORM LILIAN: Leeds pageant warns revellers to remain of their tents

Revellers at the Leeds Festival may be wishing they’d just stayed at home his Bank Holiday weekend as Storm Lilian cases widespread chaos – seeing three stages forced to close after wild winds sent tents flying.

The gales saw organisers today urge campers to stay in their cars for ‘safety’ after gales ripped through the site – and their tents.

Snapped poles and bits of torn fabric were strewn all over the campsite this morning after festivalgoers spent the night huddled together to try to stay warm in their battered tents.

Shocking footage showed tents being flattened by the wind, and getting airborne – too.

But revellers are trying to remain in good spirits – despite their camping gear flying off in a Mary Poppins fashion this morning.

One music fan, Ellie, posted a video online showing her tent getting ripped apart by the high winds. She wrote: ‘Go to Leeds fest, it’ll be fun, they said…’ 

The footage shows the green tent flapping wildly while a man struggles to keep it on the ground. 

Former Oasis star Liam Gallagher, who is due to headline the music festival in Bramham Park on Friday evening, headlining the festival on Sunday asked the youngster if he would retweet her video.

Others suggested Mary Poppins should be invited to headline the event given her skill with an umbrella while facing rambunctious meteorological conditions. 

One group of friends made a pragmatic decision in removing all of the tent poles and lying on top of their temporary shelter to prevent it jetting off into the heavens.   

On X, organisers announced that both the BBC Radio 1 Stage and Aux Stage had been ‘lost’ at the West Yorkshire festival, and added they ‘remain hopeful that everything else will continue as planned’.

The post said: ‘We can see an end in sight to the high winds.

‘We definitely won’t be opening the arena at 11am, but we are targeting as soon as possible after that and we will update you further.’

In a further update at 1.46pm, organisers confirmed the Chevron stage would also remain closed this evening due to the weather conditions.  

‘However, we have definitely lost the BBC Radio 1 stage today, and there will be no performances on it.

‘We have also lost the Aux stage today, and there will be no performances on it.

‘We remain hopeful that everything else will continue as planned and that we will still have an amazing weekend. Please await further information.’

A yellow wind warning issued by the Met Office was in place across northern England and north Wales until 11am on Friday, with the storm bringing gusts of around 50-60mph in the region.

Earlier on Friday morning, Reading and Leeds Festival has urged attendees to stay in tents if they are on site and feel safe to do so. 

They added: ‘If you are in your car, please remain there. If you are not yet at the festival site, please delay your arrival. 

‘We’re expecting it to ease up at 10am and we will update you in 30 minutes. Your safety is our number one priority. Remember to look out for each other.

A Leeds attendee said she was experiencing the ‘worst day ever’ as her tent had been destroyed and her group had been asked to leave their area because of the windy conditions.

Carrie Gill, 19, said she was waiting in a McDonald’s and will likely be waiting there ‘for a while’.

She said: ‘All the rain came in [to the tent] because the poles pulled so hard from the wind the fabric ripped open and leaked the whole tent with the rain. We even put those rock plastic pegs in the bottom and they have snapped.

‘We aren’t allowed back into the area for hours, all our stuff is in our mates’ tent, phone’s on 30 per cent.

‘All the stores have blown over, the urinal walls are gone and lads are just p****** against fences, people’s tents are in the sky, the store shops are all over the floor and shirts and things from stores are gone. It’s honestly really bad here.’

She also revealed that if her new tipi ‘doesn’t last’, she will be forced to return home. 

‘As you can imagine being a student, it’s quite an expensive festival to be going to and to be let down like this,’ she added. 

However other revellers haven’t let this mornings bad weather get in the way of their Bank Holiday weekend as they braved the winds in their stylish outfits. 

Leeds saw revellers descend on Bramham Park in their boho chic outfits despite the closure of the three stages. 

Earlier this morning, festival-goer, Dylan Maggs, 26, said he saw the perimeter wall fall on empty tents and smash a van window.

His group was ‘right next’ to the perimeter fence when it came down, saying: ‘It looks worse than it was for sure – no-one was inside of the tents when it came down. A fence also took out a van’s window.

‘We’re just laughing through it, not much else we can do really, it’s annoying but it is what it is. We’ve seen a lot of people ditch tents and leave.’ 

The 26-year-old added: ‘We’re currently sitting on our tents so they don’t fly away, Practically all of us are gripping onto our tents, and there’s six of us.’

Elsewhere Declan Donnelly, an an engineering production operator from Manchester, said his group ‘had to hold onto our tent for about one to two hours as well as double peg it as when the gusts hit it was nearly flying off’.

The 20-year-old added: ‘It seems to have calmed down now but there’s lots of tents ripped, collapsed and destroyed, with a fair few tents left by people who have chosen to go home.’

Acts including indie singer Beabadoobee and US star Ashnikko were due to play the BBC Radio 1 Stage at Leeds on Friday evening, while podcasts Antics With Ash and The Useless Hotline were billed for the Aux Stage.

Blink 182 are headlining Reading Festival on the Friday night while acts including Gerry Cinnamon, Two Door Cinema Club and The Prodigy will also take to the stage.

According to the Met Office weather forecast for Reading, festival-goers can expect ‘long sunny spells’ by midday and a maximum temperature of 24C.

Similarly to the less than happy campers in Leeds, revellers at Creamfields in Cheshire suffered countryside hell this morning.  

A festivalgoers said it was ‘impossible’ to sleep because strong gusts shook his tent and others with ‘loads of people’ had been damaged.

Jason Kamara, 23, said: ‘We were told it’d be windy but we had no idea it would be that bad.

‘I think it felt worse from inside the tents but it was impossible to sleep because of the rattling sounds.

‘I got out of bed at 6am to have a look at the damage and found loads of people trying to fix their damaged tents and pegs that had come undone.

‘But to be honest it’s a distant memory now, the sun is out and everyone is in great spirits.

‘Everyone has embraced the British weather and made the most of a bad situation which is what makes Creamfields special.’

Videos captured at the wet and windy festival, showed glum festivalgoers wrestling with the wind to keep their belongings on the ground. 

As wind and heavy downpour bashed against her tent, one Leeds reveller said: ‘This is the wind.

‘It’s not…it’s really not good. There’s water in our tent. Everyone’s screaming,’ she said as her tent began to cave in. 

Even though the weather is looking slightly sunnier down south in Reading, one sleepy camper was caught up in last night’s windy weather. 

Appearing to have been blown away, the ruffled reveller was helped out of her blue tent by staff. 

Although the weather is more promising in Reading today, they should brace themselves for damp and wet weather.

According to the Met Office, there will be downpour early Saturday but fairly settled conditions are likely to develop across southern and eastern England and Wales. 

The warning stretches from the Isle of Wight up to Ipswich in Suffolk and includes London. 

The Met Office says people in the area should expect ‘spells of rain, heavy at times, likely to cause some travel disruption and perhaps flooding in a few places’. 

It comes as thousands of homes across Cheshire, Yorkshire and North Staffordshire were left without power this morning as Storm Lillian begins its forecast day of disruption in the region. 

SP Energy Networks has reported outages across Cheshire with some restored, but thousands of homes remaining without power. 

The power cuts are currently ongoing in Chester, Tarporley, Knutsford, Warrington, Lymm, Runcorn, Norley, Malpas, Nantwich, Alsager, and Northwich. 

Three hundred houses in Durham as well as 80 houses in Yorkshire were also left without electricity overnight. 

Over 1,300 homes in North Staffordshire were hit with power cuts affecting Madeley, Keele, Bignall End and Halmerend and other nearby areas.

As it stands National Grid is reporting 80 properties affected around Madeley and Keele, 1,173 across Bignall End and Halmerend, 54 over High lane and Brown Edge, 20 in Longsdon and Kidsgrove, and 37 in Cheddleton.

British Airways has cancelled 14 flights scheduled to take off from Heathrow on Friday and delayed others, according to the airline’s website.

The cancellations include international flights to Italy, Switzerland and the US as well as domestic journeys to Scotland and Northern Ireland.

But it’s not only some aircrafts that have been brought to a standstill,  as travel chaos ensues on the railways with a train crashing into a tree in Kent this morning. 

It was also a commuter’s nightmare in Wrexham, Chester, Carlisle, Chester,  as well as in other northern cities as services were delayed or cancelled this morning.

On the Humber Bridge in East Yorkshire a lorry almost toppled over as Storm Lilian’s 60mph winds dragged its wheels off the floor. 

Daniel Garner and his colleagues were driving over the 100ft bridge around 7.30am this morning when they spotted the HGV.

The ‘worried’ tarmacer revealed he had never seen anything like the incident before. 

Shortly after, Humber Bridge’s official Twitter account announced they were closed to ‘high-sided and wind vulnerable vehicles’ at 7.34am and a speed limit of 20mph was imposed.

Daniel said: ‘I was worried it was going to go over the side.

‘We could tell as we were coming up the bridge how bad it was and we’d seen the wind was at 30mph but within a few minutes it was 60mph.

‘I saw the lorry tip a little bit so I got my phone out and then it nearly went over a couple of times.

‘If he’d have slowed down I would have got out and helped him but he carried on and got to the other side.

‘I posted the video to advise people not to go over because I’ve never seen anything like it. I couldn’t stop watching the video.’

The lorry comes agonisingly close to tipping over as it travelled across the bridge over the River Humber on two occasions – with its left side appearing to lean precariously over the barriers. 

Elsewhere in Anglesey, north Wales, surfers used the crashing winds to their advantage and took to the waves.

It comes as Met Office issued ‘danger to life’ alerts as Storm Lilian is expected to wreak havoc across the country. 

Two yellow weather warnings were issued for rain in south-west Scotland and the Aberdeenshire coast from 9pm on Thursday to 9am on Friday. 

The Met Office has also urged drivers to take care on the roads, and warned revellers at Leeds Festival to secure the tents as the storm is set to batter northern parts of England and Wales. 

Gusts of up to 80mph are also expected, with travel disruption, flooding, power cuts and dangerous conditions near coastal areas likely, according to the forecaster. 

There is the possibility of thunder, while 20-30mm of rainfall is expected widely across both areas – with a chance of 40-50mm over higher ground.

Another yellow wind warning was issued in north England and Wales until 11am on this morning, with the storm widely expected to bring winds of 50-60mph to the area.

At 5am this morning, the Met Office took to X (formerly Twitter): ‘Winds are now strengthening in many areas with the strongest winds occurring during the next few hours across northern England and north Wales

‘Damaging gusts are possible in places so ensure you stay weather aware.’

It comes as Storm Lilian is already affecting roads outside of the expected regions, as the M48 Severn Bridge has been closed in both directions. 

National Highways have urged motorists to use the M4 Prince of Wales Bridge, due to the alternative being closed due to strong winds. 

Met Office forecaster Greg Dewhurst said: ‘The strongest winds are likely to start forming through the early hours initially across parts of north Wales into the Liverpool, Blackpool area, and then crossing over the Pennines and into the east and north-east England – Yorkshire, up to Northumberland before then clearing out into the North Sea.

‘So it’s really quite quick.’

The storm is predicted to ‘wane’ by later this afternoon as it pushed away into the North Sea, with scattered showers expected to continue for the rest of the day, Mr Dixon said.   

Parts of the north and northwest will can expect fairly unpredictable weather moving into the weekend. 

According to the forecaster, various fronts moving in will bring more persistent rain, particularly for parts of western Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Lilian is the 12th named storm of the season – the furthest the Met Office have got through the list since it was introduced – and the first since April.

Storms are named when they have the potential to cause disruption or damage which could result in an amber or red warning, the Met Office said.

The RAC estimated that 19.2 million leisure trips by car would be made over the weekend, with 3.2 million on Friday alone.

This is highest since the motoring services company began recording data for the summer bank holiday in 2015.

RAC Breakdown spokeswoman Alice Simpson said the adverse weather and large volume of expected trips represented ‘a perfect storm’ for drivers.

She said: ‘Anyone driving in areas impacted by Storm Lilian should try to avoid exposed coasts and higher routes where there’s a greater chance of fallen branches and trees. It’s vital to lower your speeds and leave plenty of extra stopping distance to allow yourself time to react quickly. 

‘Drivers should keep a firm grip on the steering wheel and take extra care when passing high-sided vehicles which can cause an unnerving buffeting effect when you’re suddenly hit by the wind on the other side.’

A Network Rail spokeswoman said: ‘We are closely monitoring the potential impact that the storm might have on the rail network.

‘We have teams on hand to put in appropriate measures, if necessary, to ensure that we can continue to run trains safely and as reliably as possible.’

Regarding recent cancellations in light of the storm, A British Airways spokesperson said: ‘Due to restrictions imposed by Air Traffic Control as a result of adverse weather across the UK, we’ve made some minor adjustments to our schedule. 

‘We’ve apologised to our customers for the disruption to their travel plans and to help get them to their destinations as quickly as possible.’