Christmas Flash Mob Causes Shopping Mall Evacuation in California
When is a Flash Mob Not a Good Thing
You may have seen the flash mob video clip on You Tube of the Hallelujah Chorus at a shopping mall, and this is what was supposed to take place on 21st December at the Roseville Galleria in Roseville, a suburb of Sacramento.
A huge mob gathered in preparation for the spontaneous production of Handel's Hallelujah Chorus, in fact there were about 5,000 people there in the suspended food court, and this is what caused the problem.
As the flash mob production was about to begin, the building's floor began to move and creak, and some people were reported as saying that they heard popping sounds. Some people thought they might be having an earthquake, and some women reportedly screamed and there were moments of panic as people struggled to get out of the food court using the limited number of escalators and stairs.
The emergency services called over the tannoy system and they evacuated the building where the flash mob was about to take place, saying that people could sing, but please walk don't dance.
The flash mob was continued outside, however before it finished the emergency services interrupted again, this time to move people along for their own safety, because of the sheer number of people involved.
For those who are not familiar with flash mobs, a flash mob is an event that is usually organized on social networks, and brings hundreds of people together to perform at the same time at a specific location. This flash mob was organized by the Sacramento Choral Society and Orchestra, but apparently the whole neighborhood found out and turned up to the event, resulting in a much larger crowd than was anticipated.
I think that the location for these events and the safety factors if they are to take place in an elevated location, especially exit routes in case of an emergency, need to be taken into consideration in the planning.
As it was, fortunately nothing serious happened in this case, and a video of the evacuation and part of the event can be seen on the BBC News site.
Sources:
Published by Tony Payne
Tony Payne is a freelance writer who lives on the South Coast of England with his wife Debbie. He has worked in the IT Industry all his life, and has been writing on various sites for the last 10 years. T... View profile
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27 Comments
Post a Commentwow that's crazy
Great report
people get way to out of hand with this
@Brandon Sounds like Stew hit your Glee nerve! I think his point is valid, 5,000 people or not, safety and the consideration for others must come first. Not everyone has the desire to be tangled up by one of these things, some of us think they are down right ridiculous. You want a choir? Go to church!! @Jims Amen!!! Some of us have to pay for those who are in the unemployment line!!
Excellent writing, as always! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Wonderful article Tony. I love flash mobs. I stumbled on Do Re Mi a year ago on YouTube and have been collecting them in a special playlist ever since. I would love to participate in one, albeit one well-organized and safe.
@Brandon Point taken it wasn't supposed to be a huge crowd, and the article states that [[[For those who are not familiar with flash mobs, a flash mob is an event that is usually organized on social networks, and brings hundreds of people together to perform at the same time at a specific location. This flash mob was organized by the Sacramento Choral Society and Orchestra, but apparently the whole neighborhood found out and turned up to the event, resulting in a much larger crowd than was anticipated.]]] The problem is that now more people are hearing about flash mobs and wanting to be there to see them live or to take part, the larger numbers of people can cause a danger. I'm not against them, like you I think they are very clever and a lot of fun. However, crowds of people can present a danger, and the safety aspect needs to be considered when planning these in the future. Merry Christmas one and all.
I love the videos of flash mobs -- but I have wondered how people handle it who are in a desperate hurry. That floor might have creaked with just the Christmas crowd of sh oppers. Good article.
Sure wish I had that much time to waste. My stupid job keeps getting in the way.
I rear ended a car today. I think I am going to sue the auto manufacturer of the car in front of me because if they would have made the other vehicle 10 inches shorter then I would have never hit it. If you read the article closely you would have noticed that it was not supposed to be 5000 people and flash mob doesn't mean thousands of people. if you are crying about thousands of people getting together in one location and worried about evacuations then lets get rid of concerts, sporting events, prom, church, black friday shopping, and sponsored events like marathons, 5k walks, ect...
Come on get real, people were tring to get out away from the computer and participate in life. Lets just be thankful that they did not get hurt.