New Year’s revelers leaving the open-air music festival were stranded in the scorching heat for up to nine hours due to a massive traffic jam on the only road.
Some even drilled holes in the wire mesh to escape the chaos at the Beyond the Valley music festival in rural Varna Plains, Victoria, where Nelly Furtado and Kaytranada performed on New Year’s Eve.
The organizers later issued an apology for the “delay and inconvenience caused” after some participants collapsed from dehydration and heat stroke.
Those who tried to leave the open-air music festival were held up for nine hours in the scorching heat.Revelers pictured at Beyond the Valley Music Festival
The photo shows thousands of cars trying to merge onto one road.
Festival attendee Monique Moore said traffic jams ruined her festival experience.
“There doesn’t seem to be any traffic control in place and no one has been able to travel for hours,” she told the Herald Sun.
“This is everyone to themselves. People are cutting wire fences, standing over cars, trying to figure out what’s going on.”
Moore said that despite the muggy heat reaching her mid-30s, she and three other passengers didn’t want to use the air conditioning because they were worried the car’s battery would die. Said.
“I’ve seen about 10 cars broken down, and most people have no[cellphone]reception and it’s even more stressful,” she said.
People are stuck in their cars for up to nine hours while trying to leave the Beyond the Valley festival grounds (pictured).
One woman was so frustrated with traffic that she copied the words of the Victoria Police into a tweet (pictured).
They left the campsite at 9am and after a few hours had traveled only 20 meters.
Attendee Jack Morgan took to social media to vent his anger on the situation.
“About 50 lanes of traffic trying to merge into one lane. Waiting almost 9 hours now,” he wrote on Twitter.
another man said channel 9 He saw a woman suffering from “heatstroke, just delirium, she lost consciousness for a moment.”
Pictured: Beyond the Valley Festival headliners Nelly Furtado (left) and Denzel Curry (right)
Three young women photographed at the Beyond the Valley festival in Varna Plains, Victoria
A man called Jim tweeted his frustration at what was happening at the festival (pictured).
A man called Jim said it took his daughter nine hours to get out of the scene.
He tweeted at 5:30pm, saying, “My daughter is finally leaving Beyond the Valley after queuing since 8:30am.
“She said people were collapsing with dehydration and organizers had to hand out free water. Security is doing its job now, apparently because there is no traffic control.”
Another parent, Patrick Griffiths, said his 18-year-old daughter “was going to attend a festival like this for the first time and is quite worried.
“You don’t want there to be a fire or something. It seems easier to get out of prison than to escape across the valley,” he said.
A Twitter user (pictured) tweeted about having to wait 7 hours in 36 degrees heat.
Two young women photographed at the Beyond the Valley festival in Varna Plains, Victoria
A woman pictured at the Beyond the Valley festival in Victoria over New Year’s Eve weekend
According to organizers, the influx of cars ending the festival and general holiday traffic on the road caused traffic jams.
Amid a flood of complaints, the festival posted on Instagram, “Today, the influx of cars leaving the festival and general holiday traffic are causing delays in traffic leaving the festival.
“Our team has buggies to drop water on our cars, and we have ample water tanks around the site to fill bottles.
“We understand that this process is not comfortable in the heat.
“Our number one priority is getting everyone home safely.”