Hail No! Del Yeah! Tell us your storm stories...

[DelFest]

Were you blown away by DelFest? Tell us your stories and how you survived the Del-uge of 2009

[Linda M.P.]

Oh, Del, what a storm! After a nice nap in our RV, I decided to take our 30 month old son and our 18 month old daughter for a stroll to the main stage. My husband decided to stay in the RV since he had been out and about for a while. There was a 40% chance of rain with a few dark clouds in the distance.
The kids and I listened to Sam Bush and visited with a few folks in the VIP area while eating hors d'oeuvres. I thought I heard thunder in the distance, but with all the festival sounds, was not sure. I decided to head back to the RV as the sky got darker, bought Del's 50 Years box set, and was standing in line for a Gyro when the first drops of rain fell. Now, these were huge drops of rain! Next thing you know there is lightning, thunder and quite a bit more rain. Needless to say, there was no Greek food in our immediate future as I was pushing the stroller at a fast pace. My son was laughing because he was getting rained on, but my daughter (the princess), was not so thrilled.
We reached the RV just in time! By the time the kids were inside, it began to rain in earnest, lightning was close, then the hail began. I grabbed the camera and began to film (I have not looked at it yet, but will post if any good). The hail was pea sized to start, but soon turned to nickel size. We were parked near the river, just next to the VIP tent camping and across from a small reservoir that was nearly empty at the start of the storm. I watched as the the trees behind us snapped, as the road turned to a river, as a small river formed under our RV and the surrounding ones, as the reservoir gained feet in height and spilled over and as our view completely disappeared due to the force of the wind and rain. Our son was a bit frightened by the hail; our daughter was oblivious as usual!
The rain let up a bit and the hail quit. Just as I stuck my head out of the door, it began again! Thankfully the second burst was not quite as bad, but the damage had been done. A tree fell on a tent near the river, a car was sideways off the road in a large puddle, an RV had water flowing thru it, and a lot of the aluminum-framed vendor-style tents were destroyed. There was even a waterfall on the cliffs behind the fairground where no waterfall had been just an hour earlier.
We watched folks return from the stands to the campground in shock. What a mess! But you know, there was still a lot of laughter as the clean-up began. Thanks to the festival folks for cruising the campgrounds making sure everyone was o.k. and to the fire rescue crew for helping out. Let's hope the weather next year is a bit more like last year - cool and clear!!

[Mat Brewer]

Been seeing Leftover Salmon weather the storms for years. This is first time I saw an easy up tent go through a car window! Just happened to be my ride home!!!! Going down the road feeling wierd!!!! Never forget DELFEST!!!!

[Jimmy (Not Cumberland) :)]

Just a few pics from the fest. Will have more storm pics up before too long. Still going through them.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/super_b/sets/72157618861294234/

[Christy Koch]

We had gone back to our campsite to make some dinner before OCMS. My husband Bob was cooking, my friend Dan and I were working on a song (which was very funny, but pretty evil, and we're kind of convinced the storm was God smiting us for writing it), and Dan's wife Courtney was in their tent taking a nap. When the rain started, Courtney joined us under our screen house. As the wind picked up, dinner was scrapped as it became more water than food. The screen house started to collapse, so we each grabbed a corner and held it up. The hail was pelting our hands, legs, and feet, and we were all soaked from head to toe, but the canopy stayed up. Our neighbor Ren came by during the first lull (if it can be called that), and took shelter with us as the awning on her bus had been destroyed. She sheltered with us for a while, then made a run for her camp. Then Dan and Courtney's tent flew away. Courtney ran after it and dragged it back with her, using one hand to hold up her corner of the screen house and the other hand to keep the tent from flying away. During the second hailstorm I noticed our rain fly coming up and knew our tent would be wet, so I suggested perhaps finding a hotel before the mad rush for rooms commenced. This was agreed upon by all, and during the second lull I made a break for our truck. Being Frostburg graduate, I'm familiar with the area and knew there was a Super 8 in LaVale, so I called them and managed to book 2 rooms before they filled up. I headed back to the screen house to help. Soon after, our tent collapsed. By the end of the storm I was standing with my back pressed against the screen to keep the wind from pushing it in. Once the storm was over, we threw all our belongings in the back of the truck. Courtney and I headed up to the music meadow (which at that point was the music pond) to retrieve our chairs. I was honestly expecting to see every chair in that meadow piled together at one end, but miraculously, they were all right where we had left them, albeit knocked over. We lost the screen tent (which the hail ripped a giant hole in), Dan and Courtney's tent (pole snapped), Dan's guitar (soaked), and Bob's 3 week old ipod (fried). Our tent was flooded and everything we own was soaked, but everyone was okay. The storm brought us all together, and I for one can't wait for Delfest '10!

[walter b robertson]

i got blew away alright...for 55 bucks.how many other people got ripped off on saturday for 55 bucks ..ten minutes in the storm hit...stand around for 2 hours soaking wet...no announcement,no notifications.just give us your 55 bucks and see you later.i understand their no rain out policy now.no refund ,no voucher for the next day...nothing..i have been to sixty plus rock concerts and never been ripped off like this..from the wrought gut 5 buck a cup beer.to the fleecing of my 55 bucks....i was talked into this,and they got me once...it will not happen again.there are more of you out there lets hear it...i know of twenty local friends who where also summarily scammed

[iabluegrassboy]

Come on Walter... Leftover came back and played a sweet night show! They did all they could. If you ask me, given the circumstances, the crew did a hell of a job. There were no andvanced announcements because no one -- even people in Cumberland -- even knew any of it was going on. It was a MICRO storm... no radar showed it prior to it happening and it came fast and fierce.

As for the beer -- that Lagunitas IPA was delicious and if you would have bought a DelFest cup, refils would have only been 3 bucks! ;)

We drove out from Iowa and had a hail of a time. Wouldn't have traded the storm for 72 degree weather every day. We had great neighbors who helped us out when our tent got flooded. Thanks to Charley and Ali, Max and Kat, Mike, and Tommy and Lauren!!! Love ya and Del YEAH!

[Kathy R]

Walter, Walter....I worked like a dog getting the main stage dry so that Leftover Salmon could play later that night, Sam Bush came out and jammed with them too...it was one sweet show and well you missed it. Music played on in the pavillion and $5 beer is cheep and if you had bought a Delfest Cup refills were $3. How do you think you were scammed...No one could predict the weather...and if you read other replies to your post you will see that this was a freak storm. We all shared an experience and a bond that no one but other 2009 DelFesters will fully understand....BTW this was my first music festival EVER and all others will pale in comparison...a weekend of clear skys and no rain...what?....LOL bring on DelFest 2010!! I'm camping next year!!!!!!

[Jimmy (Not Cumberland) :)]

You can go watch the radar. its archived. Just search for it. There is nothing moving towards the area at all. Then out of no where the storm appeared and stayed directly over the fair grounds till it died. It was not something anyone could have foreseen. That point is driven home fi you read all the postings from folks from Cumberland who said they had never seen anything like that before. I also thought the Delfest folks did an amazing job considering what happened. That night at Old Crow I had one of the best times I've ever had at a show. If I could do it all again I would want things to play out the same. Minus the folks getting injured.

http://vortex.plymouth.edu/gen_nids.cgi?ident=lwx&pl=n0r&yy...

[Jimmy (Not Cumberland) :)]

Watch the radar on the link at look at the Cumberland area. Its pretty crazy how it just pops up and doesnt move. The other storms all moved. Not the Delfest storm.

[Jimmy (Not Cumberland) :)]

Here it is disappearing. Weird.

http://vortex.plymouth.edu/gen_nids.cgi?ident=lwx&pl=n0r&yy...¢er=

[Uncle Dave]

Hi Jimmy(NC), here is a shot from State College, PA, from approx 1830hrs to 2000hrs 5/23/09

http://vortex.plymouth.edu/gen_nids.cgi?ident=ccx&pl=n0r&yy...

[Gumbrinus]

In my 25+ years of festivating, I've been in some fierce storms... including a wind shear at Winterhawk in the late 90s that struck around 6 in the morning and caused some serious damage in a matter of minutes. I've certainly seen my share of wind, rain, and hail while living in the outdoors, but NEVER in the volume that hit DelFest last weekend. The sheer duration of the storm and continuous waves of elements coming from various directions was beyond intimidating. Like many here, there were moments when I was in fear for my life and of those around me.

One of the silver linings of any extreme situation is the way in which people rise up in difficult situations to assist those in need. Several strangers assisted my camp-mates in securing our canopy and collectively protecting ourselves from the elements. There were several moments when we considered bailing and running for cover, but there was simply no place to go. So we rode it out in the ankle-deep ice water and skin-stinging wind. We lost a screen tent and a few cheap tents (our Eureka and Kelty tents took it like champs), but overall we fared better than most. I felt awful for the vendors who lost canopies and merchandise, since in many cases their livelihoods are dependent on the wares they were trying to protect. Watching the dripping instruments being pulled from the Martin Guitar tent was especially sad.

While I applaud the festival for moving forward with the music program and for coming around during the storm to check w/ vendors to see if everyone was alright, I share some disbelief -- given the severity of the strom -- that there was no advance warning provided... Not by the festival, nor by the various emergency personnel that were stationed around the presmies. I have been involved with production crews at festivals for many years, and when we know in advance (which, when there is that much valuable equipment exposed, is true 99% of the time), we gently advise people to prepare for a possible storm. It's better to side with caution and provide some indication that there might be a storm than to say nothing and run the risk of increasing potential danger. While it is possible that no warning was received, it seems more likely that nobody opted to articulate that information to the crowd in a calm and constructive fashion.

Fortunately, the damage was limited to property and not lives, and for that we should all feel blessed.