Over the weekend a large storm brought massive flooding to the site of the iconic Burning Man Festival, closing areas used as roadways due to foot-deep mud and keeping attendees and performers stranded in the deserts of Nevada.
After the storm on Friday brought the desert over half an inch of rain, the entirely dirt desert area turned into a mud bath for all festival goers, staff and performers. Attendees were forced to make do as the roadways were shut down and vehicles were unable to leave the campgrounds.
Burning Man is held in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada, just about 10 miles away from the nearest town and about 110 miles from Reno, which is the nearest city. The conditions caused many fans to begin conserving their resources, such as food and water, as well as sharing them with others in need.
Rebecca Barger, an attendee from Philadelphia, told reporters that the fans had “just adapted” to the situation, “sharing RVs for sleeping, offering food and coffee,” and that spirits were still mostly high. Others did not quite share the same sense of whimsy from the effects of the storm.
While Burning Man organizers pleaded attendees to not leave the festival site on foot, many were not ready to stay put in the foot-deep mud for any extra time. Among the most notable were Diplo and Chris Rock, who walked approximately six miles through the muddy desert until they were able to catch a ride in the back of a fan’s pickup truck. Diplo posted a video explaining his experience to Instagram over the weekend, telling fans that he “legit walked the side of the road for hours with [his] thumb out.”
Event organizers were finally able to open the roadways on Monday afternoon, after a significant amount of rain dried up. Upon opening the exit at 2 PM, the organizers pleaded with guests to take their time and try to delay their departures in order to stagger the amount of traffic leaving the area. Despite their warnings, the festival-goers were ready to go home and piled up a nearly 5-hour line of traffic leaving the festival site.