Culture
Burning man revelers evacuate after heavy rains left them trapped for days
Roads leading in and out of Black Rock City were closed on Saturday
September 5, 2023 9:26am
Updated: September 5, 2023 9:26am
Participants of the Burning Man festival, held annually in the Nevada desert (USA), started leaving the grounds on Monday after being stranded for days due to heavy rains that turned the area into a waterlogged and muddy mess.
Evacuation operations commenced at 2:00 PM local time (9:00 PM GMT) as some roads and paths had dried enough to allow vehicle transit, according to a statement from the festival organizers on their website.
However, attendees were advised to wait for an additional day to avoid traffic congestion. Approximately 64,000 people were still at the festival site on Monday afternoon, according to organizers.
Torrential rains on Friday and Saturday night transformed the area into a mud-soaked landscape. As a result, since Friday, hundreds of vehicles, including many heavy caravans, became stranded in the desert.
Roads leading in and out of Black Rock City were closed on Saturday, and organizers urged attendees to take shelter, ration their food and water, as vehicles were virtually unable to move.
This situation was evident in aerial drone images published in U.S. media, showing hundreds of stranded vehicles surrounded by mud.
The Burning Man festival takes place annually at a dry lakebed in the Nevada desert, where a temporary city is constructed and accessed via a two-lane highway.
During the event, attendees can engage in various artistic and communal activities, which some participants shared continued despite the challenging conditions.
According to organizers, the festival adheres to a set of principles including "civic responsibility," "radical self-expression," and "leave no trace," and money isn't allowed (though tickets to attend cost hundreds of dollars).
In one of the statements released today, organizers reiterated a festival principle: "Remember to leave no trace and communal effort as you depart. We expect all participants to pack out all the items they brought and clean up their campsite area before leaving the city."
