{"id":329717,"date":"2026-07-05T03:12:26","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T03:12:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/329717\/"},"modified":"2026-07-05T03:12:26","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T03:12:26","slug":"fan-festival-miami-reopens-after-nearby-lightning-strike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/329717\/","title":{"rendered":"Fan Festival Miami reopens after nearby lightning strike"},"content":{"rendered":"

FIFA fans cheering on Australia and Egypt at Fan Festival Miami inside Bayfront Park missed the conclusion of the match Friday after a nearby lightning strike forced organizers to evacuate the venue for about 90 minutes, authorities say.<\/p>\n

But by around 4 p.m, the festival had reopened, with fans streaming in for the highly anticipated 6 p.m. match between Argentina and Cabo Verde at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens.<\/p>\n

Around 2:30 p.m., FIFA World Cup Miami posted on its Instagram that the festival was temporarily closed due to weather conditions.<\/p>\n

National Weather Service Meteorologist Jared Heil told the Miami Herald a lightning strike occurred about five miles away from the event. That triggered the Fan Festival\u2019s safety protocol for evacuation due to severe weather.<\/p>\n

By 4 p.m., the thunderstorm already dissipated and there were clear skies over Miami, he said. Organizers posted on Instagram that gates were reopened, and they were ready for the next match.<\/p>\n

The City of Miami was forecast to have a 50% chance of showers and thunderstorms Friday, the National Weather Service said. Some thunderstorms may re-form after 5 p.m., Heil said, with overall chances dropping to 30% by 9 p.m.<\/p>\n

Since opening in early June, the Fan Festival has evacuated attendees and turned away fans several times due to high temperatures and rain showers.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Fans briefly turned away from FIFA Fan Festival in Miami due to scorching heat<\/a><\/p>\n

\"A A United States fan cheers for his team during a watch party at the FIFA Fan Festival 2026 in Bayfront Park on Wednesday, July 1, 2026, in downtown Miami, Fla. The United States defeated Bosnia and Herzegovina 2-0 in their FIFA World Cup Round of 32 soccer match in Santa Clara, Calif. Photo by Matias J. Ocner mocner@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n

This story was originally published July 3, 2026 at 4:18 PM.<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Devoun Cetoute<\/a><\/p>\n

Miami Herald<\/p>\n

Miami Herald Cops and Breaking News Reporter Devoun Cetoute covers a plethora of Florida topics, from breaking news to crime patterns. He was on the breaking news team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2022. He\u2019s a graduate of the University of Florida, born and raised in Miami-Dade. Theme parks, movies and cars are on his mind in and out of the office.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FIFA fans cheering on Australia and Egypt at Fan Festival Miami inside Bayfront Park missed the conclusion of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":329718,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-329717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329717"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329717\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/329718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}