Attendees at the American alternative festival Burning Man were unable to enter or leave the Nevada desert site on Saturday as heavy rains turned the site into a muddy field, forcing organizers to close the doors.
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“The gates and airport of Black Rock City (the name of the location, editor’s note) remain closed, all entry and exit are delayed until further notice,” the X account (ex-Twitter) repeated since midnight from Burning in at regular intervals man.
Organizers also urged participants already on site to “conserve water, food and fuel and find warm and safe shelter.”
Due to the heavy rains “la playa”, the huge esplanade characteristic of the event became impassable.
If the rains stop during the day, it is expected to rain again on Sunday, the last day of the festival, while temperatures are expected to drop again to around 10 degrees during the night from Saturday to Sunday, according to the organizers.
Most planned activities have been suspended, including the lighting of the wooden giant in the center of “la playa,” which marks the end of the festival and gives it its name.
The festival faced a severe heatwave last year with strong winds, which had already made the experience difficult for “burners,” as festival-goers are known.
60,000 people trapped in sticky, sludge-like mud, unable to move from place to place or even walk, with limited food, water and toilets, and perhaps not able to leave until Tuesday? And will it rain again tomorrow? What could go wrong? pic.twitter.com/mmLLNb0s6e
– Lee Fang (@lhfang) September 2, 2023
Launched in San Francisco in 1986, Burning Man aims to be an indefinable event somewhere between counterculture celebration and spiritual retreat.
Originally organized on a beach in San Francisco, Burning Man has grown into a structured festival with a budget of almost $45 million (2018 figures) and more than 75,000 participants in the last edition, which is less than the previous one Edition in 2019.
It has been organized since the 1990s in the Black Rock Desert, a protected area in northwest Nevada that the organizers have set themselves the goal of preserving.