Thousands of attendees of the Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert were stranded over the weekend after heavy rain on Friday night led officials to close the road that leads in and out of the makeshift town.
Organizers said on Monday that the main road to the campsite had reopened and the “exodus” had begun around midday as the ground dried up.
Attendees were at one point told to conserve food and water, and the festival’s main event, the burning of a towering manlike sculpture, was postponed for a second time until Monday night.
How did people get trapped?
The festival is held each year in Black Rock City, a temporary community created in the middle of the Black Rock Desert in northwestern Nevada.
Each year, it hosts more than 70,000 people who travel from around the world to the desolate, arid landscape. Those people typically have to contend with fine dust, not mud and rain.
It is far from major cities — the nearest is Reno, Nev., more than 100 miles away.
To get to Burning Man, people must either travel the two-lane rural highway that leads to the festival’s gate or fly into its small, temporary airport.
The rain prompted the closure of the route in and out of Burning Man, but the event’s organizers reopened the road at midday Monday, though some travelers were still getting stuck on the long trek out.
The muddy conditions also obstructed the ability of event organizers to move heavy equipment, including for fire safety to the site of the Man Burn, which was twice postponed, according to a social media account affiliated with The Burning Man Project. It is now scheduled for Monday night.
How did people get out before Monday?
For the most part, they walked, drove an alternate route off-road or hitched a ride out.
In a social media post, the Diplo, the D.J. and producer, said he and Chris Rock had “walked 5 miles in the mud” to get out.
Some vehicles with four-wheel drive have been able to get through the mud, Burning Man organizers said.
Organizers cautioned that other vehicles were getting stuck in the mud, making it more difficult for everyone to leave.
Burning Man organizers said early on Monday that the main route in and out of the area was still too muddy to pass through. Some festival goers began taking to their jeeps and trucks ahead of the official announcement that the road had reopened at midday.
Even then, organizers urged people to consider postponing their departures until Tuesday.
What is the weather forecast?
Weather conditions improved on Monday, with clearing skies and warmer temperatures. But forecasters with the National Weather Service warned that a low pressure system may bring a chance of light rain showers by nightfall into Tuesday morning.
The festival site had been slammed with rain since Friday. Other parts of Nevada were also walloped with fast-moving thunderstorms and flash flooding over the weekend. Heavy flooding was also reported on the Las Vegas Strip.
Orlando Mayorquin and Derrick Bryson Taylor and Remy Tumin contributed reporting.
By Amanda Holpuch
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