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Tens of thousands of revellers at the Burning Man festival have been told to shelter in place and conserve food and water after a heavy storm flooded the area and left attendees stranded in disastrous conditions.
About 70,000 people were effectively trapped and could not leave the event after a rainstorm pummelled the desert playground and turned it into a swampy mud pit.
Local authorities said they were investigating a death that occurred at the site during the storm on Saturday.
An overview of Burning Man festival in Black Rock, where about 70,000 people are now trapped.Credit: Maxar Technologies
Organisers warned that the gate and airport into Black Rock City, the remote area of north-west Nevada where the event is held, was closed and no driving would be allowed in and out of the area except for emergency vehicles.
“Do not travel to Black Rock City! Access to the city is closed for the remainder of the event, and you will be turned around,” the organisers said on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
“If you are in BRC (Black Rock City) please shelter in place and stay safe … Check on your campmates and neighbours to make sure they’re OK, and help them as needed. Take advantage of a moment of calm to connect with campmates and hunker down.”
Social media photos and videos also painted a disaster zone, with partygoers trying to make their way through muddy outdoor dance floors, while stages and campsites were soaking wet, with dark clouds on the horizon.
About 15 centimetres of rain is believed to have fallen on Friday (US time) at the festival site and more heavy rains were expected.
Burning Man is a counterculture festival that began in 1986 and is best known for its concluding event, in which a giant, humanesque sculpture is set alight.
The event attracts tens of thousands of people each year, from ordinary partygoers and emerging artists, DJs and performers, to celebrities and influencers.
Two festival goers walk through the mud at Burning Man.Credit: NBC
To take part, attendees create a fleeting, self-sustaining community that is dismantled at the end of the event. Part of the Burning Man experience is to borrow, gift and trade instead of exchanging money.
“Honestly, we’re having a great time,” Theresa Galeani, who is at Burning Man and expected to be there for the rest of the week.
“We have not witnessed any negativity, any rough times,” she said. “Some people … were supposed to leave a few days ago so they’re out of water or food. But I am an organiser so I went around and found more water and food. There is more than enough here for people. We just have to get it to everyone.”
Scott London, a southern California photographer who was attending his 20th Burning Man and just came out with a book on the festival, “Burning Man: Art On Fire,” spent much of Saturday walking barefoot across the 13-square-kilometre site. He said the biggest challenge was logistics, since no vehicles could traverse the site and supplies cannot be brought into the site, and most people cannot leave.
People walk through the mud at Burning Man in Black Rock City.Credit: Black Rock Observatory
“We are a little bit dirty and muddy but spirits are high. The party still going,” he said, adding the travel limitations offered “a view of Burning Man that a lot of us don’t get to see”.
“Usually it’s very crowded with art cars, bikes and people all over the place but yesterday it was like an abandoned playground,” he added.
Rebecca Barger, a photographer from Philadelphia, arrived at her first Burning Man on August 26 and is determined to stick it out through the end.
“I’m not leaving until both ‘The Man’ and ‘The Temple’ burn,” Barger said, referring to the wooden effigy and wooden structure that are traditionally torched during the event’s last two nights.
She said one of the biggest concerns has been the lack of toilet options since the trucks that normally arrive to clean out the portable toilets multiple times a day haven’t been able to reach the site since Friday’s rainstorm. Some revellers said trucks had resumed cleaning on Sunday.
To prevent her shoes from getting stuck in the muddy clay, Barger says she put a plastic bag over each of her shoes and then covered each bag with a sock. Others are just barefoot.
“Everyone has just adapted, sharing RVs for sleeping, offering food and coffee,” Barger said. “I danced in foot-deep clay for hours to incredible DJs.”
Ed Fletcher of Sacramento, a longtime Burning Man attendee, arrived in Black Rock City over a week ago to start setting up. When the rain hit, he and his campmates threw a party and “danced the night away” in their muddy shoes.
“Radical self-reliance is one of the principles of Burning Man,” he said. “The desert will try to kill you in some way, shape or form.”
The Pershing County Sheriff’s Office said a death happened during the event but offered few details as the investigation continued, including the identity of the deceased person or the suspected cause of death.
According to its website, more than 60,000 people travel to and from the city along a two-lane highway to attend the festival. The schedule began on August 27 and was due to end on Monday.
The muddy morass at Burning Man is reminiscent of the scenes at Australia’s Splendour In the Grass festival last year when organisers were forced to cancel the first day of acts after non-stop rainy weather along the NSW coast created hazardous conditions.
Fans had been looking forward to the return of the Splendour three-day festival, which featured international acts like Liam Gallagher, Gorillaz, and The Strokes after a two-year hiatus during the global pandemic.
with AP
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