Download Festival flood: the picture wasn't taken at Download Festival

Download Festival 2016 flood? No, this image was actually taken at Glastonbury in 2005 (Image credit: Getty)

Campers at Download Festival 2016 are hoping weather reports forecasting more rain are proved wrong after Donington was turned into a mudbath.

A brief but severe downpour on Friday saw much of the Pink campsite hit with fast rivers of rain water. It continued to rain for hours after that, but not as heavily. And while that water dissipated by Saturday morning, the area remains treacherous underfoot with mud causing chaos for festival-goers.

However, things aren’t actually quite as bad as social media has been making out.

The conditions led to a barrage of images being shared on Facebook and Twitter under the hashtag #Drownload – but the picture being shared more than most was actually taken at Glastonbury in 2005.

An actual picture of one of the Download 2016 campsites

One camper, Scott Pringle from Glasgow, tells TeamRock: “It rained really hard for a short burst and it’s been not too bad since. It was some of the heaviest rain I’ve ever seen, but that picture that’s doing the rounds is definitely not from Download.

“It could get worse if the rain comes back of course, but so far we’re all still having a brilliant time and the atmosphere is superb. As is the case every year, it’s been a brilliant festival and there’s still loads to come.”

Today, BBC Weather is forecasting brief spells of rain this afternoon and in the early hours of the morning, while Sunday looks like seeing rain briefly at 10am and then again from 6pm.

Update: The Met Office has since confirmed that Download Festival 2016 could have been the wettest on record.

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.