Elements Festival 2024 attendees who arrived on Thursday endured heavy rain and flooded portions of the festival grounds in the wake of Hurricane Debby.
Elements Festival is once again living up to its name. Early arrivals to the 2024 event have had to slog through a flooded event site courtesy of Hurricane Debby, prompting organizers to temporarily cut off entry to its grounds at the Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. Due to an unfavorable shift in weather, the box office and campground gates will remain closed until 1pm on Saturday, per the festival’s latest update.
A video circulating on TikTok shows Thursday arrivals exploring the festival grounds in rain ponchos with visible puddles forming underfoot. Another shows broad patches of the pre-party dance floor — in front of the Water Stage, coincidentally — rendered undanceable by wide pools of water similar to the ones at this year’s edition of Ultra Music Festival in Miami.
On Friday morning, one Redditor posted a photo of a completely submerged area of the Elements Festival campgrounds along with a story about how the water carried their tent 150 feet from where they pitched it overnight. A video shared by Festive Owl shows two attendees making the best of the situation by lying on their own inflatable mattresses while a friend pulled them through the water.
Elements Festival’s organizers announced on Friday morning that entry to the festival is “closed until weather conditions improve.” They have promised to offer shelter, water, snacks, and blankets to those on site.
While Long Pond’s weather forecast looked to clear up by Friday evening, the conditions have turned unfavorable since as the storm will last longer than originally forecasted. A spokesperson on behalf of Elements Festival initially told EDM Identity that there are no plans to cancel its programming and that the team is working toward reopening.
Elements Festival has faced setbacks due to inclement weather in the past. During the 2021 edition, heavy downpours from Hurricane Ida created logistical issues that led to a class-action lawsuit against organizers.
EDM Identity will update this developing story as more information becomes available.