The much-awaited Cherry Blossom Festival failed to kick start today as the organisers cancelled all the day’s festivities due to adverse weather conditions.
The festival which was slated to begin at 5 pm today at Madan Kurkalang, Bhoirymbong was cancelled at the eleventh hour as relentless rain accompanied by strong winds and cold made it impossible for the organisers to go ahead with the scheduled programmes.
People from Assam and Shillong who flocked the venue to watch the performance of renowned bands like Sanam and The Hybrid Theory had to curse themselves as the programme was shelved.
The entire venue was in muddy condition due to the rain even as volunteers worked hard since morning to install all the lighting and sound systems for the event.
The inclement weather condition which started yesterday night has cast a shadow on the festival, leaving fans and attendees dampened by the sudden turn of events.
As the weather put a damper on the first day of the eagerly awaited musical extravaganza, organisers promised to make up for the cancellation.
They informed that Day 1 ticket holders will receive free access to either Day 2 or Day 3 of the festival while those holding season pass will also be refunded the ticket money for today’s show on their RFID cards.
The sudden and persistent rain coupled with strong winds is attributed to cyclonic storm ‘Midhili’. According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the rain is anticipated to persist until November 19.
In its bulletin, the IMD said that deep depression over West Central Bay of Bengal has intensified into the cyclonic storm “Midhili” over the Northwest Bay of Bengal as of 5:30 am today.
“Light to moderate rainfall is expected at most places with isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall is likely over Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura on Friday and Saturday with extremely heavy fall at isolated places over Mizoram and Tripura on Friday,” the IMD said.
It also predicted light to moderate rainfall at many places with isolated heavy rainfall is likely over south Assam and isolated places of Meghalaya on November 18 and 19.
According to the IMD data, Shillong recorded rain of 6.8 mm while Sohra recorded 4.8 mm rainfall. The heaviest rainfall was in Williamnagar (28.2 mm) and Tura (10.8 mm).
