Glastonbury 2005 Flood

[@onanotherday2008]

I remember it being bad. Real bad. But this is the first time I was truly taken back to the horror of that never ending rain. Incredible. Thank you sincerely for documenting this

[@adsainter2346]

My first glastonbury. My clever friend insisted we pitch the tent on higher ground the day before the rain started. I was so thankful!

[@richmonty7377]

I remember this well and we were safe up on Pennard's Hill but there was a river flowing down about 50 yards from us.From the lane we later watched a bloke paddle out on an airbed when only the tops of the big tents were showing.He jumped in and was under for quite a while and we were getting a bit concerned.He then appeared and threw a case of beer onto the airbed to great cheers from everyone.Considering there were portaloos floating at the far end he must've really wanted a drink!

[@phiacastillo4179]

First time since I had been in the 70's, what a weekend to remember! Kids canoeing in inflatable chairs, mud diving and yet, despite the rain everyone had the time of their lives, an event to remember.

[@Inflataburble]

This was my first of many Glastonburys and I remember helping people fish their possessions from this torrent! I still enjoyed the festival once I had repaired my own tent!

[@228ss]

if bear grylls was there he would have fashioned a make shift dam out of cider cans and used johnnies

[@purplesunflower8242]

Ha ha ha ha LOL !

[@shortybond3000]

Quality LOL

[@Jabber-ig3iw]

If bear grills had been there he would have left his crew in their flooded tents and buggered off to his 5* hotel.

[@kanedillon4107]

a tip : watch movies on Flixzone. Been using them for watching all kinds of movies these days.

[@willezra8577]

@Kane Dillon yea, have been using flixzone} for years myself =)

[@Melge86]

My first ever festival..... I forgot my wellies as well haha! Don't remember being bothered one bit about it at the time though... we were having a ball ;)

[@coldwarjet]

I was there, camped about 30 yards from the "river". What I remember most of all was seeing the portaloos at the bottom on Pennard Hill on their sides, and the stewards telling people to stay clear of the water as it was now full of raw sewage. Thing is, the tunnel under the old railway line was a torrent almost up to it's full height of water rushing through (sewage and all) to the Other Stage - so we all traipsed through it all later on. Remember talking to people who had lost everything and were waiting for the water to go down before they would get their stuff back and go home. Also remember TV news crews filming the mayhem, and a guy in a canoe! Who brings a canoe to Glastonbury??? Brilliant.

[@alloneword7427]

Wha? The tunnel under the old railway line isn't anywhere near the Other Stage. It joins the Greenpeace field with the Green Futures field.

[@MrJoeBetts]

I saw people trying to rescue their belongings with a canoe and thought exactly the same - how did someone know a canoe was worth bringing!? We can laugh now but I remember feeling very sorry for the people whose tents got flooded

[@mrnewton86]

That, my friends, is one of many reasons you don't take stuff to festies which you can't afford to lose

[@charp7278]

Undoubtedly the best festival in the world , I have been the last two years in glorious sunshine . I simply cannot imagine doing it like this . Quite simply I’d leave

[@kucor01]

This is why the Weather Report is my favorite band

[@joolsfreeman4359]

The water was running off the big hill at the top of the site outside the fence and was building up it git to the point the fence was in danger of being pushed over, so the lifted a couple if panels to relieve the pressure in it, i was crew there that year, so Michael Eavis did that to you;

[@leeparkinson]

Haha, I didn't know that. Thanks for the insight!

[@joolsfreeman4359]

@@leeparkinson if the fence had come down the site would have to be evacuated under the license conditions, imagine the logistics of that!

[@jimmymack416]

I was there, Coldplay headlined, had a kip that night :) I had wanted to see New Order for ages, here was my chance, what a let down :( Alabama 3 were amazing, Ozrics were cool.

[@glastomole9570]

One hell of a storm it certainly was!! several months worth of rain falling in a few hours in the early hours of the Friday causing the worst flooding in the Festival's history, luckily I was camped up on the Hill over-looking the Pyramid👍But did these people pack up & head home? Nah, many just got another pint of cider & joined the queue for Millets..

[@uhoh211]

wow,I've been to 5 Glastos,all have been pretty damned good weather wise.This just proves how things can turn when the rain really sets in. This is the Somerset levels after all

[@VidzVideo]

I was there this year and remember the storm. I was camping at the top of hitchin hill I think it was called so didn't have any issues. I didn't actually leave the camp until lunch time that day and by that time all the water was gone but I remember seeing destroyed tents and people's stuff everywhere in places. Never realised until today how much of a flood it actually was though

[@johnstephenjones7348]

I was hard going and very gloomy until sunday when the sun came out. I gave up with wearing wellies in the end as the mud was sucking them off me!. How I managed to carry 12 beers from a beer tent in that mud on Friday evening is a thing of wonder, I even got a massive round of applause!

[@lindsaybelderson7735]

Fish in the local area downstream must have been off their faces for weeks afterwards

[@sueq6]

I remember this..Pennards field I think at the bottom of the hill. I was working with Greenpeace and we were on standby waiting for them to decide whether to abandon the festival , the police decided it was safer not to

[@hogg8888]

dont forget to pack your tents up and leave no trace

[@niksgee]

Great video and well captured.

[@gnasher2000]

This i fucking amazing mate ...thank you i was working here 2005 and you have made it history thank you man

[@KillCrazy78]

That was our first Glastonbury! Nothing seems as bad since then so bring it on! ('97 was hard work as the mud was thick but nowhere near as much water)

[@KillCrazy78]

dwarfedgiant oops! meant '07! 👍

[@DistantCousin]

2016 was also a mud-fest, but not much actual rainfall

[@2007samsmith]

How can so many people stand there next to their tents and not move them!?

[@aquaticspasticp5024]

come downs be like that i guess

[@MrJoeBetts]

They probably only pitched their tents there because there was literally nowhere else available - unless you get on-site early it gets pretty desperate finding free space for more than a single tent

[@rosscoc3894]

Never forget hearing that banging rain for ages, and i got out my tent and said this is the worst. This hot girl in a red Lacoste anorak from Brighton just appeared and said could be worse and pointed to a guy below who was swimming to his tent collecting his belongings, with his missus just hands in head crying at the side. We both laughed mostly at our luck, and she said well enjoy the festival and then gave me one of the greatest snogs ever had in my life and walked off, I never saw her again, thought it’s only 8am and this festival still going to be epic and it was!

[@amymorgan9434]

ugh i love stories like this

[@MrJoeBetts]

​@@amymorgan9434have you still got the Lacoste anorak?

[@Neil2022]

Don’t pitch your tent in a dip

[@Kev-lfc10-163]

Exactly 😂

[@richavic4520]

That's what SHE said.

[@misterkip2923]

@@richavic4520 Tee hee

[@SAM-zt2uy]

I remember waking up with the ground literally shaking under me with the thunder! Thankfully was in the Greenfields on higher ground so just had a stream past the tent. After the 2005 floods Michael Eavis then spent £100,000 on ground drainage so there should never be a Glastonbury this good again

[@Vanoccupanther]

That thunder went on forever didn't it? We were camped up near the Cinema field not too far from the exit to the where the buses pick up. No flooding and we stayed dry. Just stayed in the tent getting stoned.

[@gordonoldfart7814]

we were camped crew camping just the other side of the railway line, I had a little river running through the middle section of the tent but nothing like what these poor buggers had to put up with. One of our guys was off surfing after the festival and he got his board out and was paddling away like a good un

[@Vanoccupanther]

Never-ending thunder and lightning and non-stop rain from 4am to midday. Mud so thick it would suck your wellies off.

[@sarahcorcoran7730]

Oh my, we were there that year too - with 2 kids! it was a mare - but we went back again, again and again - even that could not ruin it. but lesson learned we always camp up the hill!

[@polyesterparties9283]

Think it rained first time I worked there in 1991 - but bloody hell - DJed at Homelands 1999 ( @Matterley Bowl) & the entire VIP flooded at least 3 ft! 😩

[@bleedinghandshughes]

there wasnt room to pitch that orange tent properly can i just say. it was full of sewage, but i still brought it home

[@johnstephenjones7348]

We were stuck in this but luckily not in the busiest areas. We were not too far from the bus station exit near wicketts field so no flooding, it started raining and thundering at 4am and both did not stop until midday. I was hard going until sunday when the sun finally came out!

[@MCFCRuss]

i'd of floated down on an air bed just for the laugh pretending to be asleep

[@TheLondonForever00]

Lol, quality

[@katieerrington86]

People did!! Air beds were Lilo's!!

[@jillianhorsley5985]

Always pitch your tent on a hillside.....slope, i always tented in the limestone field.....dry as a bone and you get to see amazing sunrises, i would have stayed and pitched somewhere else.

[@purplesunflower8242]

Been there flooding festivals , on the land for two weeks...its about survive and not drowning built a trench around my tent one year to divert the Water !

[@barrelroll415]

saw this on worlds worst weather tv programme last night. had to search it up

[@rupert-j8f]

interesting video, i have been to glastonbury 8 times since 1995, sometimes you got a little rain but nothing as bad as this. You just cant guarentee good weather when you go there and if it rains its shitty, mud everywhere. I dont know if i whould have stayed or left to be honest.

[@amymorgan9434]

i think if you went early you’d always feel as though you left on a sour note, i’d stay and try to continue the party haha

[@edaltares]

I wonder why those people didn't bother to salvage their tents and gears? Most of those tents can be lifted without even dismantling it. Just empty it, remove the pegs, lift it and move it to a higher ground. Fascinating!

[@Jabber-ig3iw]

Nowhere to move them to, the site is rammed. All you can do is salvage anything valuable and wait it out.

[@MrJoeBetts]

You weren't there, man

[@stevenicholls1986]

remember this so Well. only Glastonbury festival I have been at.. after waking up me and my mate were floating on our blow up beds with money everywhere. wouldn't change the experience of it tho x

[@chriskemp6272]

never fancied going to this overcrowded , overlarge festival - and seeing this only confirms that

[@defboyuk]

Your loss

[@nickforbes-warren6602]

Overpriced and full of rich twats pretending to be hippies.

[@rupert-j8f]

yeh i used to go a lot i think i went 95, 98, 2000, 2005, 2010 and when it started in 1995 it was a lot more edgey and a load more fun the problems staretd when they built the huge superfence around 2000.

[@nmmc9096]

Chris you sound and look like a bore

[@alloneword7427]

@@nickforbes-warren6602 rich??? LMFAO Your comment proves you have no idea what you're talking about.

[@bleedinghandshughes]

it was a shit thing to happen but actually one of my favourite Glasonburies like, once we got sorted out and the Krishna tent giving us food and stuff, like, it kinda made everyone pull together

[@MegaCozzy]

waterboys playing main stage

[@rupert-j8f]

then wet wet wet.

[@MegaCozzy]

Richard Upton lol

[@MrJoeBetts]

​@@rupert-j8ffollowed by Weather Report

[@SuV33358]

Setting up aaaallll those tents in a flood zone 🤔

[@LeMac3.141]

Amazing footage!

[@sayedba]

Now tell me, which tent is best in this situation? In our country it's very normal kind of thing with heavy rain and wind. That's why I am asking?

[@MrJoeBetts]

A yacht

[@paulclosed6690]

You dont want to put your tent there mate.

[@kevin48800]

bit of advice lads next time you go get a blow up air bed

[@dnavanlife5846]

I was there in 2005 arrived hour after the rain ...there was police frogmen searching the tents

[@shudson1236]

I wonder how many people stayed for the whole time ?

[@davehoward22]

Been to a few wet ones but thats soul destroying

[@jakehixon4073]

Just secured a ticket for 2023. Maybe I shouldn’t be watching this 😂

[@thisgirlfromderby]

What campsite did the river happen in? I'm worried it's Oxylers which is my go-to site!

[@alloneword7427]

this was at the bottom of Pennard Hill Ground. Public can't camp in this area anymore. It's been staff camping for a few years now.

[@bleedinghandshughes]

i reckon everyone who got flooded should get free tickets for life

[@DieyoungDiefast]

And I thought it was damp in '83

[@SleepscapeSerenity]

they called the police divers to check the tents when the water level rose above them

[@nickforbes-warren6602]

GLASTONBURY FLOOD, the ultimate disaster movie!!

[@bstock1808]

Which camping field is this. Will avoid like the plague when I go!! 😂

[@alloneword7427]

This is at the bottom of Pennard Hill ground field. Public can't camp here anymore. The area where you could see just the top of the tents above the water has been a crew camping area for a few years now.

[@nudebaboon4874]

It appears that none of these people have ever heard of a weather forecast!!

[@MrJoeBetts]

It was the heaviest local downpour in 20 years - unfortunately some people had to pitch their tents at the bottom of that hill as there was literally nowhere else left

[@mci6830]

Bummer .

[@xAngiePrincessx]

This is mad! I can’t believe this happened.. did it happen on the second day?

[@HotClubDeParis]

It was the Friday morning.

[@Vanoccupanther]

Started at 4am and did not stop until midday. Constant thunder and lightning too.

[@tombomford3243]

Hi Lee, I'm writing from the television production company ITN Productions. I'm working on episodes of ITV's 'Caught on Camera' that focus on extreme weather. We'd potentially like to include this clip in the programme - would that be OK? Please email me, with the video name and link, at [e-mail] . Thanks!

[@bog-monster]

Did you end up using this clip Sublick? If so is it available to watch on here?

[@MistaJayLJ]

Why don’t people pull the tents up and chuck them on higher ground to help save people’s stuff ?

[@Jabber-ig3iw]

There is no higher ground that doesn’t already have a tent on it.

[@italokid80]

All people watching, nobody moves the tents from the valley

[@revol148]

+italokid80 just stand around and observe - pretty much sums up the people who go there!

[@paul36uk]

fortunately i was in a caravan

[@jonasfischer9510]

Lmaoooo at these people stepping through turds

[@waldesi1]

This is crazy

[@bleedinghandshughes]

it's amazing nobody died

[@AdmiralBud]

But it was worth it to see Coldplay, right?

[@jodiewoodfield130]

Wow

[@periwinkleblue3416]

Oh my fucking god. Where did all the people sleep then?

[@MrJoeBetts]

The Hari Krishna tent was very busy that year

[@mikehunt5558]

He's told you about that.

[@spiritualmeditationmusic2177]

Hope its not like that this year!

[@carforumwanker]

its fucking worse ! but not as shit as the music !

[@bleedinghandshughes]

there was nothing could be done to help anyone, the people who thought they were safe were not, even if we all pulled together, what the fuck would we have done?

[@umbongoapg]

+Bradley0beaver only us mad heads stay and really enjoy glasto when the fair weather wanabees leave...lol...this beats 98...peace

[@Doctorsexylove]

+umbongoapg I was in Glastonbury 98 and a few years before that I was in the British Army, and am also a bit of a traveller, which I think can be a good combination in these stuations.... Watching this video of people standing around and then reading the comment "there was nothing could be done to help anyone" ???.... This is what you can do... Get up, Pack, Breakdown the tent, move.. get out of there.. go and have a cup of tea & some breakfast then find a nice piece of high ground (stone circle?) to go and hang everything up.. chill the fuck out and set up again later..

[@umbongoapg]

+Simon Atkinson wish i had been there with you pulling the people together as one as we should be....that chill the fuk out include something long herbal an burnin lol...peace

[@bleedinghandshughes]

i wonder who that guy is at 4 minutes???

[@jimweir6735]

Looks like some ethopian refugee camp.

[@Kev-lfc10-163]

Doesn't it😂

[@happychappy27]

Never camp flat at glasto. Simple.

[@revol148]

that's nothing - you should have been there in 1998

[@jillianhorsley5985]

Ha ha, i was....my god, i crept under an articulated lorry on site.....only to find another 9 people who had the same idea....we had a sing song....it was brilliant, i will never forget.

[@alloneword7427]

1998 was muddy, but didn't flood like 2005. By the Sunday of 2005 it had all dried up and was hot again.

[@pierreleonard9758]

I cannot believe everybody, including you, Lee Parkinson, just stood around and watched other people's stuff get washed away. It would have taken all of a minute or two to unpeg each tent and drag them to dryer ground. That's what it means when we say "mucking in and helping each other". You even say at one point "I'm walking on other people's tents" Unbelievable lack of initiative.

[@joshuadixon4932]

That sounds a lot easier than the reality. The campsite affected by this in 2005 is one of the most densely populated campsites with no space for extra tents. Any space left will be walkways which you can't camp in for obvious reasons.

[@leeparkinson]

Haha, while my bro filmed this video, we were helping each other. However, to put this in context, it was first thing in the morning; it seems people had woken to the water and abandoned their tents.

[@pierreleonard9758]

+Lee Parkinson I should have watched the whole video before commenting. It got pretty bad, I'll give you that. I have been to Glastonbury 3 times, I know the mud well enough, and i have been washed out of a tent elsewhere on campsites in my time, I know what that can be like, but I can see this was something else.

[@MrJoeBetts]

You weren't there, man

[@pierreleonard9758]

@@MrJoeBetts I made a prick comment. Apologies, man.

[@CrazyTimLife]

Fucking rain

[@captnodge]

Is this film about humans and their rubbish they let loose

[@raylp4751]

It looks terribly in-tentce.

[@hrbtodisdaaay9221]

That’s why we go zooloos powder rooms 🤗

[@BeatKasterG]

Only a fool pitches their tent on low ground in Britain.

[@felicitytoad]

I bet those people just leaft those tents there . Naughty

[@minisla]

Fucking annoying sound

[@six8031]

All that money and crap weather to see some shitty indie bands.

[@MrJoeBetts]

The Wailers, Baaba Maal, Van Morrison and Taj Mahal were all pretty awesome from what I remember