Severe weather halts two Sydney festivals

Close to 20,000 people were evacuated from Sydney's under-18s Good Life Festival yesterday due to severe weather.

At 4pm on Sunday, festival attendees at Randwick Racecourse were directed to wait under the grandstands while storms with wind gusts reaching 91km/h passed through, damaging the main stages and causing major structural weaknesses. Punters were then evacuated to the designated Parent Drop Off Zone on Driver Avenue at Moore Park and to shuttle buses running to Central Station.

The weather cut into sets by Avicii and Havana Brown and meant that acts including Allday, Lil Jon, Timmy Trumpet, Bliss N Eso and Will Sparks were unable to perform.

Good Life organisers, who staged the first 2015 Future Music Festival on Saturday, made an official statement just after 12pm. They said: "The health and safety of both our patrons and our staff is of paramount importance to festival organisers. Unfortunately, at 4pm severe thunderstorms and damaging wind conditions of up to 91 km per hour developed – and the decision was made on the advice of Operation Commander Superintendent Gavin Dengate of NSW Police to suspend the festival to ensure the safety of patrons. All patrons were urged to seek shelter in the Randwick Racecourse grandstand until the storm passed.

"At 4.30pm a further decision was made to close the event based on damage sustained to staging and equipment, and the forecast of further severe thunderstorms and winds of up to 100km/per hour."

NSW police worked with an emergency management team of 20 management personnel including staff from State Transit Authority, Traffic Management Centre, Australian Turf Club officials, NSW Ambulance, Event Aid Medical Staff to evacuate punters. The Police said no injuries had been reported and only one arrest was made.

“The youths were very well behaved and having a great time at the concert before the inclement weather started,” said Operation Commander Superintendent Gavin Dengate. “We commend them on complying with our instructions.

“Our close working relationship with event organisers resulted in no injuries as a result of the storms and evacuations.Only one arrest was made out of 20,000 festivalgoers, and that was when a male youth assaulted a police officer. He will appear at a children’s court in the near future.”

Good Life organisers also said that there would be no refunds for the event but they are working on a "special offer to upcoming events for Sydney Good Life 2015 ticket holders."

The weather yesterday also saw music on the main stages of Soundwave Festival temporarily halted at Olympic Park. The Day Two event saw All Time Low’s set cut short, however less than an hour later the stages resumed with Papa Roach performing just before 5pm. 

City-wide the weather saw SES respond to more than 550 jobs. Damage included a tree fall in Camden Hospital's carpark, damage to a 36th-floor window of a building on Pitt Street, and the smashing of a window in North Sydney, which resulted in a road being closed.

Photo Credit: NSW Police