Reading Festival organisers draft in Environmental Agency to protect site from flooding

A quarter of a million gallons of water have been pumped to safeguard the event

Organisers at Reading Festival have drafted in the Environment Agency to protect the site from flooding.

Earlier today (August 26) festival site crew and the Environment Agency pumped a quarter of a million gallons of water from the River Thames, which is adjacent to where the event is being held.

“The cooperation and positive response of the Environment Agency has ensured that the thousands of festival fans will continue to have a fantastic weekend here at Reading,” Melvin Benn, managing director of Festival Republic, said in a statement. “I am extremely grateful to them. We have obviously experienced heavy rainfall over the past couple of days but the rest of the weekend is looking good – here’s to another great Reading Weekend.”

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As previously reported, heavy rain in the last few days has left the site heavily waterlogged in some areas. However, according to Metcheck, downpours during the weekend itself should be fairly minimal, with only light rain predicted for tomorrow (August 27), and the rest of the weekend set to remain clear.

NME is coming live from both sites at Reading And Leeds Festivals this weekend. Head to NME.COM/festivals for full coverage including news, reviews, videos and picture galleries.

Plus make sure you buy next week’s issue of NME to get the definitive review of Reading And Leeds Festivals, either on UK newsstands from September 1 or digitally worldwide.

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