04 September 2023 - Thousands of Burning Man revelers stranded in Nevada desert by rain and mud
More than 70,000 Burning Man festival attendees remain stuck in Nevada desert after rain
Nouran Salahieh and Emma Tucker (CNN, 03/09/2023)
Thousands of people remain trapped at the Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert after heavy rains inundated the area and created thick, ankle-deep mud which sticks to campers’ shoes and vehicle tires.
Attendees were told to shelter in place in the Black Rock Desert and conserve food, water and fuel after a rainstorm swamped the area, forcing officials to halt any entering or leaving of the festival.
The Burning Man choice: a ‘harrowing’ hike or sticking it out in the mud
Jonathan Yerushalmy (The Guardian, 04/09/2023)
In the face of unprecedented downpours, unsafe roads and growing concerns over the integrity of the toilet facilities, close to 80,000 people gathered at the Burning Man festival were left with the same binary choice over the weekend: an uncertain escape through muddy, bogged-in roads, or hunker down and keep the party going.
Celebrity DJ Diplo was among the many who chose to make a hasty exit.
Death investigation underway, thousands trapped: What we know about 2023 Burning Man festival’s flooding chaos
Andrea Blanco (The Independent, 04/09/2023)
Burning Man is already a test of “radical self-sufficiency” for festival goers but the 2023 event brought more hurdles than most would have imagined.
The start of the counter-culture festival was delayed by a rare hurricane on the west coast. Then climate activists blocked the only road leading to the site in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert before being rammed by a tribal park ranger in his patrol truck. (That incident is now under investigation.)
One Dead, Thousands Still Stranded As Burning Man Organizers Plan 'Burn The Man' Ceremony
Taiyler S. Mitchel (The Huffington Post, 03/09/2023)
The organizers of Burning Man are hoping to push forward with its namesake tradition despite the heavy rain that left more than 70,000 people stranded in the desert.
The annual festival is held in a pop-up makeshift town in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada each summer and usually involves a ceremony, during which an art installation is burned. This year, excessive rain has turned the desert into a mud pit, making it impossible for many cars to drive over safely and difficult for people to walk through. At least one person died during the rain event, but the Pershing County Sheriff’s Office did not disclose the person’s identity or cause of death.