After postponing the final day of Governors Ball 2019 until 6:30 due to the prospect of oncoming storms, festival organizers were forced to eventually cancel the end of the festivities on Sunday, evacuating NYC’s Randall’s Island and negating planned sets from headliners The Strokes, plus SZA, Beast Coast and more.

Just as Beast Coast took the stage, the festival’s screens flashed an announcement instructing all attendees to evacuate the island because of the impending weather, which hit as thousands of festivalgoers attempted to march over the bridge and pile into buses, causing many to take cover under nearby bridges as high winds, heavy rains and lightning swept through the area.

Before the harsh weather hit, unhappy fans were captured on video tearing down one of the Gov Ball installations of plexiglass partial cubicles. Several attendees also recorded their various stormy treks from the festival, as some wallowed in the cancellation while other embraced the rain and even started some collective singing of Strokes songs on the bridge leading to Manhattan.

For their part, The Strokes released an apologetic statement, saying, “We want to send our most sincere thanks for sticking with us through the weather today. Sometimes Mother Nature has a mind of its own and unfortunately that didn’t allow for us to meet you on the stage tonight. We are so thankful for each and every one of you who came from far and wide and stuck around till the last minute to try to celebrate the music with us. We are glad that everyone stayed safe but we’re just as disappointed as you are that we didn’t get to play tonight. We love you guys. We love New York. Until next time!”

The latest in a long line of spring festivals that have encountered inclement weather and cancellations, Gov Ball 2019 wasn’t the first event on Randall’s Island to be hit with bad weather luck, or even the first iteration of the festival. Gov Ball celebrations in 2013 and ’16 also had weather-related issues (the festival begin in 2011), along with Panorama festival, which had a cancellation last year.

Gov Ball has also released a statement on refunds for Sunday, which will be sent to all those who purchased tickets and/or transportation passes through the festival’s website (three-day passes will be partially refunded). Read the full statement here.

Below, watch some scenes from the cancellation and mass exodus (and occasional chaos) via social media (h/t Gothamist).

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happy #govballnyc

A post shared by BETS (@betsmusic) on Jun 2, 2019 at 9:22pm PDT

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#govballnyc was bullshit. I’m not even talking about the cancelation of beast coast or the strokes or sza BUT IT WAS their NEGLIGENCE and the EXCESSIVE FORCE used by the securityguards in response to the deconstruction of a fucking hall of colored panels. Prior to the video teens and adults decided to take apart the structure previously mentioned. In response, as @shhuree said, “rent-a-cops” decided to BEAT helpless individuals. As you see, some officers decided to brutally PUNCH KIDS and assault adults that did nothing to warrant the action. After the video was taken I went after the security guards reminding them that they are not allowed to ASSAULT people. I was then pulled out by a security guard who I then told that he “was not allowed to touch me” in response the security guard told@me “not to test him today”. That is bullshit. The first picture is from the walk that we had to do from gov ball to 125 street. People and to go fucking sludging through the mud and POURING RAIN. The gov ball staff did ALMOST nothing to help the THOUSANDS of people get from the island to manhattan. Rather then cancelling the event, @govballnyc decided to postpone it for the time that it did not rain and have the festival during the time that it was raining. Im@not even mad that my@money was wasted, im mad that security officers were allowed to BEAT people and that gov ball coordinators left us to fend for ourselves. Hold gov ball accountable.

A post shared by NK IS A LOSER (@nkrchtr) on Jun 2, 2019 at 8:15pm PDT

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Anyway, #thestrokes did not show up and a few minutes later, we understood why they made us leave the island. #govballnyc #nyc #govball2019 #governorsball

A post shared by Frauke Steffens (@muellersvieh) on Jun 2, 2019 at 7:25pm PDT

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So Governors Ball basically ended the way ‘Jurassic Park’ began. Except without the dinosaurs and with a giant stampede of people tearing down all barriers and fences and walking across the bridge into Manhattan because the organizers– who were cautious enough to cancel the first half of the day because of the possibility of severe weather conditions– didn’t have a solid plan for an emergency evacuation in case those severe weather conditions decided to show up. #govballnyc #governorsball #governorsball2019

A post shared by Randy (@randyatrandom) on Jun 2, 2019 at 8:47pm PDT