Download Festival weather: Mud and rain sends festival-goers home before it even starts

Festival-goers are braced for a weekend of mud and rain with some abandoning Download Festival before it has even started.

The wet weather has led to scenes of mayhem at the festival site in Leicestershire, with hundreds seen wading through deep mud as they arrived for the start of the festival on Friday.

There was so much mud that some people on social media dubbed it “Drownload” and “Brownload”.

Others told how they had abandoned the festival - which includes headliners Def Leppard, Slipknot and Tool - early. The music officially starts on Friday but many people started arriving on Wednesday.

Wellies in the mud at Download Festival
@_DanielleAlex

Samantha Gibben told MailOnline: “We had a perfectly watertight tent. Nothing was leaking. But we left because of the mud. It's that bad less than a day in.

“I'll never survive. My hips were dislocating from slipping on the mud as we walked in even with wellies. I can't handle it.”

One twitter user warned those who had yet to arrive to “pack your armbands, you’ll need them”.

Another said: "#dowloadfestival is a mud bath."

One music fan said she spent £600 on the trip but had to head back home due to the weather.

Kelly Dawson told NME: “So we travelled home last night, we got in at 4am. Gutted is an understatement for how I feel about leaving.

"We couldn’t have afforded a hotel, we couldn’t afford to drive home and then back up today.

One of the scenes at Download
@ScurvyPete13

"We made the very difficult decision to leave. And to all those who have made the same decision, I’m so sorry you felt the same way.

"We wanted to save ourselves, our clothes, our belongings before they got drenched and ruined.

Festival-goers trudge through mud at the Isle of Wight Festival
Rex Features

“We only had a single skin tent (our fault completely) which honestly didn’t help but I’ve seen that even double skin tents have been having issues.”

Revellers were also met with similar conditions at the Isle of Wight festival, which takes place this weekend in Hampshire.

One commenter tweeted: “Loads of people heading for the Isle of Wight Festival in clean wellies. It’s a stuck in the mud fest this year…”

Those at the festival will see acts including George Ezra, Lily Allen and Biffy Clyro.

Fans were not put off by the weather on the Isle of Wight.
Rex Features

Heavy rain and flooding has hit the UK this week with several amber warnings being issued by the Met Office in the north of England and Wales.

A Royal Air Force helicopter was deployed to Lincolnshire to help stranded residents after a river broke its banks following extreme rainfall.

Localised flooding have also hit parts of the Midlands over the last few days, with roads and some properties inundated.

The Met Office have warned of further rainfall throughout the weekend with thundery outbreaks in some places.

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