Tragedy at Belgian Pukkel music festival hit by storm

[moxham123]

Another music festival hit by storm and kills and hurts people.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertain ... otogallery

Here is a firsthand account of what happened.

Belgium is a pretty small country but we’re known for having well organized, big festivals with lots of names from small to world famous.
The thing about Belgian festivals is without doubt the atmosphere and the sense of freedom.
But yesterday the 26th edition of Pukkelpop kicked off with a tragedy and right now it’s been officially announced that the festival will shut down due to the severity and number of casualties.
All summer has been a wet one, with hailstorms that tore even my own veranda apart. I ‘d never seen such natural violence. But yesterday a whole new natural monster arose on the festivalsite of Pukkelpop. While other parts of Belgium got their fair share aswell, it was the most devastating at Pukkelpop, simply because people were out in the open, with no place to hide.
At a little to six in the evening the sky literally went dark over Belgium. Clouds so thick and full of water blew over. Skunk Anansie was playing on the main stage when suddenly the clouds released everything in them with such a force that people rushed into the marquee tents which were already packed with thousands of others dancing to Netsky and other bands. With the never before seen rain came a thundering hailstorm, again never before seen in Belgium, and then the tearing winds. You have to picture this to feel it: no such severe weather was predicted and we just aren’t used to seeing storms this fierce and most of all this sudden. Skunk Anansie rushed off of the stage just as lighting pole, a big one!, was toppled over by the wind and smashed into one of their trucks. A full grown tree, something not easy to snap in two, did just that and collapsed on top of food and ticket stands. The marquee tent, providing place for several thousands started trembling. A smaller tent (and by tent I mean a huge tent housing a stage and everything, probably weighing several tons) started trembling as well, right up to the point where one of the video screens fell down. The tent started tearing apart. People started getting scared and tried to make their way outside. Those outside tried to make their way in. The hailstorm made it impossible to stay outside. The fences that normally are there for your protection got picked up and thrown around. The proud and huge letters spelling ‘PUKKELPOP’ were torn from their sockets and thrown on the ground. The campsite was flooded in a matter minutes. All of this together made for one serious situation. In the storm that came up so sudden and blew over just as fast 5 people lost their lives while others are still fighting for life at the hospital. Numerous others have sustained injuries.

[hicksjd9]

That's the third one, then. Maybe outdoor concert goers can breathe a sign of relief...

This is the summer of the deadly outdoor concerts. I guess being poor isn't so bad, nosebleed seats could save your life.

[moxham123]

Last Sunday, my band, The Conniptions, was ready to hit the stage at the Portage Area Summerfest opening for The Vogues and I organized the concert for the festival. Lots of people were there for the show and 8 minutes before we were to play, the clouds let loose a major rainstorm and the entire stage area had water on all the power cables, power breaker box, and P.A. We had nowhere to run and could not touch anything until the main power was shut off at the pole, which took awhile for the electrician to get there due to the severe storm. There was lightning and hard rain for hours and the tent was blowing around as well. Myself and the festival chairperson immediately cancelled the concert due to the extreme safety issues. Fortunately, nobody was hurt or killed and we are all very grateful for that.

[f.sciarrillo]

What about the stage that collapsed at the Indiana State Fair, killing five?

[moxham123]

And, the one that collapsed in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada recently injuring many people and destroying lots of equipment right before Cheap Trick was to take the stage.

[LHSL]

The collapse of the stage at the Indiana State Fair was tragic. I've seen many photos and videos of the collapse, and I've discussed it with some riggers I know who work in the industry.

IMO, it was total negligence on the part of whoever oversaw the construction of that stage. Additionally, the event organizers at the State Fair totally dropped the ball on contingency planning.

The stage that collapsed there has been provided for the last several years with modifications to provide higher trim heights for speaker arrays. However, what I'm not sure of is whether these modifications were communicated to the original engineering firm that designed the structure. From the pictures I've seen, the structure lacked the proper cross members and cross bracing that it had in previous years. Additionally, it lacked enough guy wires and the proper type of guy wire connections. The ballast that was used was improperly secured and there just wasn't enough of it for a stage that size.

People have become pretty lackadaisical about mitigating the danger around outdoor structures and making contingency plans for bad weather/disasters.

I've been a part of all kinds of outdoor events around this area, and the Johsnstown-Altoona area get's no pass on this matter either. This includes weddings, church festivals, music festivals, and whatnot. It can be difficult to predict disaster, and obviously no structure will be 100% safe. That said, most of the structures and tents I've seen around this area wouldn't stand up to a stiff breeze let alone a severe thunder storm.

If a proper structure can't be built, then the next best (and really the most important thing) is to have a evacuation plan and to have someone monitoring weather conditions.

Weather forecasting isn't an exact science... for the long term. But meteorologists have a pretty good track record for predicting severe weather with 30 minutes to a few hours notice. This sort of thing, along with radar monitoring, or at least coordination between one of the local TV news outlets and the event is critical IMO.

Moxham... I heard about your misfortune down in Portage... We got hit pretty hard out in Hidden Valley as well. One thing that can really help with electrical supply is to have all electrical circuits equipped with GFCIs that have cords on the ground or near water. This will help prevent someone from being electrocuted.

Given the amount of attention in the news media these catastrophes have spurred, I would look for something big to change nationwide in the next few years. Probably stricter building code or better code enforcement for temporary outdoor structures. If this happens I can see it putting a strain on budgets for both public events and those organized by churches and whatnot.

That said, with some of the "interesting" stage and especially tent erecting I've seen around here, maybe that's a good thing.