Burning Man festivalgoers urged to shelter in place as flooding sweeps through

The site of the Burning Man Festival at Black Rock in Nevada has turned to mud after Tropical Cyclone Hilary came through. Photo / Marc Merlin

Thousands of Burning Man attendees trudged in sloppy mud on Saturday — many barefoot or wearing plastic bags on their feet — as flooding from storms swept through the Nevada desert, forcing organisers to close vehicular access to the counterculture festival.

Revellers were urged to shelter in place and conserve food, water and other supplies.

Vehicular gates will be closed for the remainder of the event, which began on August 27 and was scheduled to end on Monday, according to the US Bureau of Land Management, which oversees the Black Rock Desert where the festival is being held.

Festivalgoers taped plastic bags to their shoes at Burning Man. Photo / Marc Merlin

The campsites became a mudbath after rain from Tropical Cyclone Hilary washed out Burning Man. Photo / Marc Merlin

More than one-half inch of rain is believed to have fallen on Friday at the festival site, located about 177km north of Reno, the National Weather Service in Reno said. At least another quarter of an inch of rain is expected Sunday.

The Reno Gazette Journal reported that organisers started rationing ice sales and that all vehicle traffic at the sprawling festival grounds had been stopped, leaving portable toilets unable to be serviced.

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Officials haven’t yet said when the entrance is expected to be opened again, and it wasn’t immediately known when celebrants could leave the grounds.

The announcements came just before the culminating moment for the annual event — when a large wooden effigy was to be burned Saturday night.

60,000 people stuck at burning man and it’s not looking good. There is limited food and water and toilets and showers beginning to fail. They need at least four days for it to dry out as it’s too muddy to leave. They are stuck. pic.twitter.com/BTeKOvu83o

— Erin Elizabeth Health Nut News 🙌 (@unhealthytruth) September 2, 2023

Messages left Saturday afternoon by The Associated Press for both the Bureau of Land Management and the Pershing County Sheriff’s Office, the agencies that closed the entrance, weren’t immediately returned.

Many people played beer pong, danced and splashed in standing water, the Gazette Journal said. Mike Jed, a festivalgoer, and fellow campers made a bucket toilet so people didn’t have to trudge as often through the mud to reach the portable toilets.

“If it really turns into a disaster, well, no one is going to have sympathy for us,” Jed said. “I mean, it’s Burning Man.”

A rainbow above the Burning Man Festival at Black Rock Nevada after rain from Tropical Cyclone Hilary washed out the event. Photo / Josh Lease

An overview of Burning Man festival in Black Rock. Photo / AP