Rain and mud leave Burning Man revelers stranded in Nevada desert

FILE PHOTO: A satellite view shows the center camp during the 2023 Burning Man festival, in Black Rock Desert, Nevada, United States, August 28, 2023. Maxar Technologies/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo

Tens of thousands of revelers attending the Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert have been asked to shelter in place and conserve food and water on Saturday, September 2, after a rainstorm turned the site into mud.

Access to and from Black Rock City, the event’s site, was closed “for the remainder of the event,” organizers said in a statement on social media.

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“Rain over the last 24 hours has 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,” the United States Bureau of Land Management said, according to local media reports.

More than 60,000 participants travel to and from the remote area in northwest Nevada every year, according to the event’s website, gathering in the temporary city to make art, dance, and enjoy community.

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The festival gets its name from its culminating event, the burning of a large wooden structure called the Man on the penultimate night.

The gathering, which originated as a small function in 1986 on a San Francisco beach and is now also attended by celebrities and social media influencers, was scheduled to run from August 27 until September 4.

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