Some Burning Man attendees began trickling out of the weeklong countercultural music and arts festival on foot Saturday amid rain and mud that locked-down the event, authorities said.
On Friday, attendees were advised to “shelter in place” and conserve food and water due to ongoing heavy rain in northwestern Nevada’s Black Rock Desert. All inbound traffic was halted and would remain so until further notice, organizers as well as federal and county officials said on Saturday.
“Participants inbound for the event should turn around and head home,” the Bureau of Land Management said in a statement Saturday.
The festival’s front entrance was closed. And widespread rain was expected in northern Nevada on Sunday.
“Honestly even if they didn’t limit it [traffic], it would be self-limited because of mud,” said Sean M. Burke, emergency management director of Pershing County, Nevada.
Though organizers said the gate and airport in and out of Black Rock City remained closed Saturday night, authorities said participants were free to walk away from the event, which is temporarily built each year on lava beds, alkali flats and flat bottom of defunct Lake Lahontan in the federally protected Black Rock Desert.
Diplo, a DJ who has been performing at Burning Man, posted a video on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, of him riding in the back of a vehicle.
“just walked 5 miles in the mud out of burning man with chris rock and a fan picked us up,” he said in the post.
Sgt. Nathan J. Carmichael of the Pershing County Sheriff’s Office said early Saturday evening he spotted a dozen or so people hiking toward an accessible road, where Burning Man organizers were helping them get rides to Reno.
“I don’t know if they’re going to be able to come back or not,” he said. “A lot of them are leaving their campers and saying they’ll come back in a couple days.”
Otherwise, the party known for bright costumes and homemade cyberpunk vehicles is on a virtual island, with an estimated 70,000-plus participants isolated from civilization, Carmichael said.
That existence apart has been core to Burning Man’s draw, rain or shine, for decades.
Burning Man is an event of self-expression that culminates in the torching of a 40-foot effigy Saturday night. The practice originated with the burning of an 8-foot wooden “man” in 1986 on San Francisco’s Baker Beach, which evolved into an annual event in Black Rock Desert.
Heavy rainfall was reported across Nevada on Friday, with the threat of flash floods looming over eastern, north central, northeast and south central Nevada over the weekend, according to the National Weather Service.
The flash flood watch will remain in effect for the region through Monday morning, with “widespread” rain
Overnight, Black Rock City received around 0.6 to 0.8 an inch of rain, according to a Saturday morning update from organizers.
“The low pressure system responsible for yesterday’s rain has shifted west, leaving us with partly sunny skies and light winds today. However, rain returns early Sunday morning and continues through the afternoon as the low pressure system moves eastward across Black Rock City and exits the region,” according to the update.
“If you are in BRC, conserve food, water and fuel, and shelter in a warm, safe space,” organizers continued to warn Saturday.
Only emergency vehicles were allowed to drive in Black Rock City, according to organizers.
The Bureau of Land Management said the rain “created a situation that required a full stop of vehicle movement on the playa.”
“More rain is expected over the next few days and conditions are not expected to improve enough to allow vehicles to enter the playa,” it said in a statement.
Tens of thousands gather in Black Rock Desert annually for the event, according to Burningman.org.
On Saturday, video and photos posted to social media depicted attendees gathering in mud, walking barefoot through mud, and living with mud that had lined some of their tents.
In 2019, the Bureau of Land Management set capacity at 80,000 for the weeklong event under a request from organizers for a 10-year special permit. The bureau considered plans for stepped growth year-to-year, but said 80,000 people were as many as local first responders could handle.
This year’s 3,900-acre event began Aug. 27 and is scheduled to end Monday.
Carmichael of the sheriff’s office said organizers, his county, the Bureau of Land Management, and other officials were prepared if rain on Sunday is heavy and more mud locks in partygoers.
“If that trigger is pulled, and I don’t know what the trigger is, we’ll get together and pool all our resources and see what we can accomplish,” he said.
