Extreme weather forecast wipes out carols, food truck festival

Zoe, Matilda and Lacy are among the Craigieburn Primary School students who were preparing to perfom at this weekend's carols. Picture: Joe Mastroianni.
The Hume Carols by Candlelight and Broadmeadows Food Truck Festival will not go ahead this weekend, with up to 150 millimetres of rain expected to be dumped on Melbourne between Thursday and Sunday.

The carols were meant to be held this Saturday at Craigieburn Anzac Park, but have been postponed until next Saturday, December 9.

Hume communications, engagement and advocacy director Kylie Ezzy said the council decided to reschedule the much-loved event for the safety of the community.

“Hume City Council has followed advice from emergency services authorities that it would be unsafe to proceed with Saturday’s Hume Carols By Candlelight event,” she said.

“The safety of our community, staff, volunteers, vendors and performers was our main priority … it would have been irresponsible to proceed with the event.”

The Broadmeadows Food Truck Festival – scheduled to be held at Broadmeadows Valley Park until Sunday – has been cancelled.

Organisers took to Facebook on Thursday to advise people that the event could not go ahead.

“While we were prepared for light rain, the reported storm over several days has put a halt on all outdoor activity in the area,” the post said.

“The Food Truck Festival sincerely apologies for the inconvenience caused and we look forward to announcing rescheduled dates in the coming weeks.’

The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a severe weather warning for heavy rainfalls across Victoria during Friday and Saturday.

The bureau has urged people to prepare, with up to 150 millimetres of rain expected to be dumped on Melbourne over the weekend.

It says this weekend’s rainfall could be the most severe weather event in 20 years.
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