Wild weather cruels Byron music festival

Robyn Wuth | July 23, 2022

Fans at one of Australia’s biggest music festivals are hoping for clearer skies after wild weather battering the east coast forced its opening day to be abandoned.

Organisers cancelled main-stage performances at Byron Bay’s Splendour in the Grass on Friday amid flooded campsites and extended delays accessing the site.

“We ask for patience while we work through the refund process,” organisers said.

“We look forward to Saturday and Sunday programming moving ahead as planned.”

Thousands of fans faced long queues to enter muddy campgrounds as officials hoped the rest of the NSW north coast festival would go ahead.

In Queensland’s southeast, which copped the brunt of conditions on Friday morning, a man died when a car was washed away in floodwaters.

His body was found by police near Sandy Creek at Nanango, about two-and-a-half hours northwest of Brisbane.

Emergency services responded to reports of a car swept away about 5.30am, with the 47-year-old found three hours later.

The death followed the rescue of a number of people “in quite a dangerous situation” on the roof of a car at nearby Kingaroy, Queensland police said.

Minor flooding warnings are in place for parts of the Stanley, Mary, Burnett and upper Brisbane rivers.

The low-pressure system is moving south and beaches have been closed due to dangerous conditions.

The Bureau of Meteorology has also issued a severe warning for damaging surf for the Byron, Coffs Coast, Macquarie and Hunter coasts.

A gale warning for the Byron coast has been issued with waves of more than five metres possible on the NSW north coast before conditions begin easing on Saturday afternoon.