Entry and exit to the BRC have been suspended until further notice, as announced by the organizers. Only emergency vehicles are allowed on the roads. “If you are in the BRC, seek shelter and stay safe,” said a message also shared on Twitter (X).
Visitors to the event, known as burners, were also advised not to use bicycles. “Even walking was treacherous, with the thick, viscous mud clinging to his shoes and everything he touched,” reported the local newspaper, the Reno Gazette Journal. According to the Guardian, nothing works anymore, including the emptying of thousands of mobile toilets. And according to the online portal SFGate, the “extremely limited” access to the mobile network also contributed to some people apparently just wanting to leave the festival grounds as quickly as possible.
IMAGO/USA TODAY Network/Trevor Hughes After rain turned the desert to mud, roads around the festival were closed
Rain expected again on Sunday
The festival itself was also largely silent on Saturday. Rain and temperatures well below normal are expected to continue through Sunday, according to the National Weather Service. The interruption, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, occurred as the festival was preparing for the main event of the same name, in which a wooden structure nicknamed “Man” will be burned. The nine-day festival traditionally lasts until the first Monday in September.
According to media reports Portal/Maxar Technologies, there are more than 70 thousand people at the festival site
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, this isn’t the festival’s first weather-related disruption: Ten years ago, weather “spilled Burning Man when sudden rains and hailstorms covered the desert floor with inches of water.”
Remnants of Hurricane “Hilary” and roadblocks
However, this year’s festival took place “under unusual circumstances” from the beginning, according to the “Guardião”, referring in advance to the traces left by hurricane “Hilary”, but also to the access roads that were blocked upon the arrival of environmental activists. As a direct result, thousands of visitors tried to get rid of their tickets before the festival started.
🗺️Black Rock City’s entry and exit gate and airport remain closed. Entry and exit are withheld for now, including Burner Express Air and Bus. Driving on the beach except emergency vehicles is not permitted. If you are in the BRC, shelter in place and stay safe.
– Burning Man Traffic (@bmantraffic) September 2, 2023
Other media outlets, however, drew comparisons to the Burning Man Festival in 2017, where several visitors were left without food or accommodation. At the event, participants are expected to be self-sufficient, which means bringing the water, food and accommodation needed for the entire stay. The “Guardian” finally reminds us of the “ill-fated Woodstock 94”, which was renamed “Mudstock 94” (mud for mud, note) because of the rain.