GLASTO: RUNNING OVER THE TOP

This morning's thunderstorms have caused scenes which Glasto veteran Mark Sutherland is describing as "worse than the mud years of 1997 and 1998" - water is schleping about the site over the top of his eight-hole DMs.

The rain has already caused the cancellation of the first three bands on the Pyramid stage as site officials rush to cope with the deluge:

BBC Somerset Sound's Steve Haig said: "There is nowhere for the rain to soak away and it's just staying on the surface. The communications are down with radios not working and some of the bands who were arriving have been told to stay away because their vans might sink in the mud - the whole thing has been thrown into chaos.

"One can only hope the rain stops soon or this festival is going to go down as a disaster."

As is traditional, Michael Eavis is sure there's no problem:

"It's different from 1997 when the site was very muddy. We've had four or five days of good weather so the ground is firm.

"We've also spent a lot of money on the drainage, so the main site should be OK."

The dry ground and sudden deluge, of course, was the reason for the Yorkshire floods earlier in the week, where they had to send in helicopters to get people out.

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