‘Fun in the mud’: CMC campers swamped in deluge

Campers at the CMC Festival west of Brisbane were hit by intense rainfall overnight, leaving some tents and swags inundated and people sleeping in cars.

It was a wet and wild night for unsuspecting campers at the Country Music Channel (CMC) Festival at Willowbank overnight as a severe weather system dumped hundreds of millimetres of rain across the region.

While the Willowbank region escaped the heaviest of the falls, nearby rain gauges at Amberley Base and One Mile reported falls between 30mm and 40mm.

Other regions, particularly the Gold Coast Hinterland, copped more than 300mm in 24 hours.

“I think we actually escaped pretty well, all things considered,” CMC’s Darryl Bailey said.

Tents were swamped at the CMC Festival campgrounds. Picture: Michelle Berardi.

“We haven’t conducted a full inspection yet, but anecdotally it seems as though there were some people who had a bit of water through their tents and swags but nothing like what happened on the Gold Coast.”

Photos obtained by The Courier-Mail show campsites surrounded by large puddles, swamping tents, swags, caravans, and cars.

One camper told The Courier-Mail that the flooding was nothing compared to the infamous flooding event that plagued the 2019 festival.

“Organisers were a bit more prepared this year and only placed camps around the edge of the track two lots deep,” camper Michelle Berardi said.

“Not like 2019 when we were in the middle of the grass with no way of getting out. We pulled a few people out that year.”

Campsites were flooded and washed away when rain crashed the party in 2019. Supplied.

Ms Berardi revealed that some people, particularly those camping in tents and swags, opted to spend the night in their cars instead.

“We are in our caravan so it didn‘t impact us ourselves, we were high and dry, but others in our camp were,” she said.

“All fun and games in the mud.”