Storm Lilian threw Yorkshire’s biggest music festival into chaos on Friday as 60mph winds hit the region.

Three of the stages at Leeds Festival were closed, organisers Festival Republic confirmed.

The festival, which attracts some 80,000 music fans each year, had to abandon its tented BBC Radio 1 stage, which was set to be headlined on Friday by singer-songwriter Beabadoobee, as well as the open-air Chevron Stage, due to be headlined by Skrillex.

It also cancelled performances on the Aux stage, which was set to welcome podcasters and digital content creators.

Screenshot taken from a video with permission from the social media site X, formerly Twitter, posted by @decomcfc of the campsite at Leeds Festival. Two stages at Leeds Festival have closed for the day due to high winds caused by Storm Lilian. Liam Gallagher is due to headline the music festival in Bramham Park on Friday evening, as Reading and Leeds Festivals get under way for three days of music over the Bank Holiday weekend. Picture date: Friday August 23, 2024.

Access to the festival’s arena was delayed with buses bringing attendees in from Leeds City Centre also cancelled while the storm was at its peak.

Attendees had been advised to stay inside their tents if they had already arrived at the site at Bramham Park, with footage showing empty tents being blown across the campsite

A statement posted on X by Festival Republic read: “Everybody can see and feel that we’re suffering from the winds currently. We’re urging you to stay in your tents if you are onsite and feel safe to do so.”

Declan Donnelly, an engineering production operator from Manchester, said he was “woken up to my tent folding in (and I was) struggling to get out of it.”

“The storm came out of nowhere. Roughly about 8.15am hundreds of people were woken up to things hitting tents, barriers and tents collapsing. We’ve seen tents, brollys, clothes, all being carried by the wind,” he said.

“We had to hold onto our tent for about one to two hours as well as double peg it as when the gusts hit it was nearly flying off.

“It seems to have calmed down now but there’s lots of tents ripped, collapsed and destroyed, with a fair few tents left by people who have chosen to go home.”

Over 60,000 people in the region experienced power cuts, with the Northern Powergrid reporting West Yorkshire as being the worst affected area.

Louise Lowes, Director of Customer Service at Northern Powergrid said: “Storm Lilian brought strong winds to our region early this morning and we are already working hard to respond and support affected customers.

“Our main priorities are to deal with emergency situations as quickly as possible, supporting our customers and ensure our people can work safely as soon as the conditions allow.

Elsewhere in the region, Swinton Park hotel and spa in the Yorkshire Dales was closed due to power cuts, as was Lotherton Hall estate near Garforth.

There were also significant delays to flights departing and arriving at Leeds Bradford Airport.

Lilian is the 12th named storm of the season and the first time the letter L has been used for the name.

Storm season, which runs from the start of September to the end of the following August, has only reached K twice since the Met Office began naming storms in 2015.

Storm Lilian: Leeds Festival in chaos as 60mph winds hit Yorkshire