Flights have been grounded and Leeds festival has been forced to shut down some of its stages amid severe weather warnings over Storm Lilian.
High winds of up to 70mph led to disruption across the north of England, with yellow warnings for wind in place on Friday.
More than a dozen flights from Heathrow and Leeds Bradford were cancelled, while flights coming into the latter, which is the UK’s highest airport, have been diverted to Liverpool.
Leeds festival’s organiser, Festival Republic, said on X that the main arena opened three hours late and that the BBC Radio 1, Aux and Chevron stages, its second and third biggest stages, would remain closed on Friday.
LEEDS ARENA UPDATE:
— Reading & Leeds Fest (@OfficialRandL) August 23, 2024
We’re pleased to say the arena is now open with the first live act, Bru-C, on the main stage at 3.10pm.
The Chevron, BBC Radio 1 & Aux stage will remain closed for today, and the BBC Introducing Stage will continue as normal from around 3pm. More info on the…
The American singer Reneé Rapp, who was due to perform at the festival on Friday afternoon, posted an apology on Instagram, writing: “leeds, the weather has been too dangerous for our crew or myself to set up/access the stage all morning … I’m so sad to miss you but your safety and my team’s safety is of the utmost importance and I can’t risk that (.) love you down and see you at reading <3.”
The DJ Skrillex and Brit Award and Mercury prize-nominated musician Nia Archive have also had their sets cancelled on the 40,000-capacity Chevron stage, as has Beabadoobee, currently No 1 on the UK album chart, who was due to perform on the BBC Radio 1 stage.
Many festival-goers lost tents during the high winds, with portable toilets and shops also tipped up, and a large piece of the festival’s wall was blown over, smashing a van window.
Some took to social media to post videos of flying tents and complain about having their experience being “ruined”. One camper who posted a video of their tent rocking from side to side described herself as a “Leeds fest night one survivor”.
The start of Creamfields festival in Cheshire, at which Calvin Harris, Fatboy Slim and Chase & Status are among the acts scheduled to play over the weekend, was also delayed due to the strong winds.
In Greater Manchester, Bolton food festival, which is expected to attract about 500,000 visitors over the bank holiday weekend and has appearances by celebrity chefs including Ainsley Harriott and James Martin, delayed its opening due to the inclement weather. Pictures posted online showed stalls blown over and damaged by the wind.
Bolton council said it had asked staff based in the town centre to work from home, and said the town hall was closed until further notice.
Hundreds of homes across the north and Midlands have been left without power after high winds caused outages on the network.
SP Energy Networks reported power cuts in Cheshire, including in Chester, Knutsford and Warrington, while 300 homes in Durham and 80 in West Yorkshire were left without power overnight.
In north Staffordshire, more than 1,300 households were affected by outages. The National Grid said other areas of the country could be affected by disruptions and, as of 5pm, dozens were still without power.
The winds were expected to die down on Friday afternoon, but heading into Saturday a yellow weather warning for rain was in place across much of south-east England.
The warning stretches from the Isle of Wight to Ipswich in Suffolk and includes London. The Met Office advised people to expect “spells of rain, heavy at times, likely to cause some travel disruption and perhaps flooding in a few places”.
