International techno mecca Awakenings unfortunately had to cancel its third day this past weekend due to an extreme storm that rolled through the area.
Major festivals in the Netherlands including Awakenings, Bospop, and Wildeburg were cut short on July 9 after a code orange was issued by the national weather forecasting service due to extreme thunderstorms, hail, and wind.
ID&T, the company behind Awakenings said in a statement about the cancelation, “Yesterday marked the most heartbreaking day in the past 26 years of organizing Awakenings…This challenging decision was based on the available weather and safety information at that time. That the weather subsequently changed is a testament to the unpredictability of such conditions.”
Refunds will be issued to ticket holders in the upcoming weeks to some of the over 100,000 techno lovers that attended the three days of the event.
This stern decision could have been the result of the strongest summer storm on record, named Poly, that rolled through Amsterdam on Wednesday, July 5 causing one death.
Winds gusted up to 146 kilometers (90 miles) per hour and Poly was the Netherlands’ worst-ever storm during the summer months and its strongest overall since January 2018.
And while the storm did spare a majority of the region for Awakenings, an update in the comments from their team stated, “We are grateful to report that everyone is out of harm’s way. The most severe part of the storm has subsided. We remain pleased with our decision, as we cannot take any risks when it comes to the safety and well-being of our visitors.”
Read Awakenings’ announcement canceling the final day of their 2023 summer event below:
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Featured image credit Awakenings
