A Boughton festival-goer is one of thousands of unlucky Festival No 6 revellers whose vehicles got stuck in a car park quagmire.
Torrential rain battered Porthmadog over the weekend, causing a river near to the park and ride to burst its banks and leaving cars stranded in water up to three inches deep.
Speaking from Glaslyn Leisure Centre – where dozens of people have sought refuge while they wait for their cars to be pulled out – Sophie Everett has told the Chronicle of her experience of being caught in the chaos.
A veteran of the Portmeirion-based festival, Sophie explained that she and her boyfriend received a message via the official app on Sunday night (September 4), explaining that one of the car park areas had flooded.
They decided to spend the night on the camp site in the hope that they would be able to get their car without any problems in the morning.
But once they arrived at the park and ride site this morning they realised to their dismay that their car was right in the middle of the ones which were stuck.
Sophie has praised volunteers from the local community and the Red Cross for their donations of food and toiletries, but has been disappointed by the organisers’ response.
"I think that the organisers dealt with it very badly, to be honest, as they must have known how flooded the field was," she said.
"The people we've seen have been the Red Cross, local police, local council staff and other community volunteers, who've been great, as well as security contractors.
"As far as I know, no-one from the festival organisers has shown their face - it wasn't until Monday afternoon that the situation appeared to be properly managed, by which point the local council had got a handle on the situation."
She added: “I don’t know what they’ll do next year but they cannot let this happen again.”
Natural Resources Wales say they warned Festival Number 6 organisers that the location of the park and ride is prone to flooding.
Keith Ivens, flood risk manager for Natural Resources Wales, said: “This area is part of the natural floodplain for the Glaslyn which is under water many times a year.
“We advised festival organisers of the flood risks associated with the site they had chosen for event parking, but ultimately, this was their decision.”
Sophie described the atmosphere at the leisure centre as ‘stoic’.
She said: “People are just getting on with it.
“I think everybody appreciates that the people here at the leisure centre are not at fault, in fact it’s very well organised here with people having to register their vehicle details in order to help coordinate their rescue.
“People are just sitting quietly and crossing their fingers that they can leave soon and that their vehicles won’t be damaged.”
At the time of speaking, Sophie said her boyfriend and other remaining stranded drivers had been called to the park and ride site to get their vehicles so she hoped they would not need to spend the night at the leisure centre.
