Why does glastonbury flood

There's a guy on the main road to the Pyramid with a river running past him and he's put a sign up on his tent saying Riverside Cottage. Although power cuts temporarily halted the lager taps, revellers found plenty of alternative beverages and set about making the most of the mud. Some draped themselves in bin liners; another tackled the floods with a surfboard. As the showers gave way to a grey afternoon, acts including the Thrills, the Zutons and Elvis Costello appeared as billed.

The rain spelled disaster for dozens of small traders at the festival. Mendip district council ordered all flooded food areas to be closed and the rain left one trader's supply of handmade dresses dripping wet. A few businesses thrived in the wet: rubber boots were sold out by 11am yesterday, leaving stalls scrambling to get more. But let's face it, this isn't the first time - and it won't be the last - that Glastonbury turns a bit, well, feral.

But why does it always look so much worse than any other UK festival? One festival goer put a picture of himself on Instagram arriving at the festival, surrounded by lots of mud. These heavy showers cause the ground to get waterlogged. For flooding and mud you've clearly got to have wet weather. But the Somerset soil also plays a crucial role in creating that unique Glastonbury squelch. Learn more about the environmental factors increasing flood risk.

Change in extreme rain events compared to average. Rise in inches, compared to average. Temperatures in degrees Fahrenheit. Increase in comparison to the average. Past floods, current risks, and future projections based on peer-reviewed research from the world's leading flood modelers. Access data calculated by a team of more than 80 world-renowned experts using decades of peer-reviewed research.

Explore interactive flood maps to visualize recreated historic floods and see how flood risks change in the future. Compare areas. Points on map. Filter by levels:. There are solutions to protect Glastonbury Center Although flood risk can never be completely eliminated, communities that adapt to higher flood risks can limit flood damage and lower flood insurance costs.

It cleared up by Sunday, but the rest of the festival was quite slushy. Another pleasant start quickly went bad as torrential rain began on Friday morning and continued right until the bitter end. The Who and The Chemical Brothers headlined on Sunday night and performed during a horrible, freezing cold downpour. After a decent , things looked good for the festival - until the clouds came in and brought lightning alongside the rain.

Luckily, the skies cleared not long after and a full-blown mudbath was avoided. Some people made the most of it, though. Panic set in briefly during Thursday as the heavens opened and it looked like another swamp was in store.

Some people even had to be treated for heat exhaustion by Sunday.