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Torrential rains have turned the iconic American counterculture event into a muddy “hellscape” that could last for days, stranded thousands of people attending Burning Man in the Nevada desert.
Storms battered Black Rock, Nevada, on Friday night, closing roads and stranded more than 70,000 people in camping areas where food and water were being rationed and portable toilets were out of service.
“It’s a mess . . . the (portable toilets) are flooded and they can’t get the sewage trucks in here,” festival attendee Kris Edwards said Saturday on TikTok. “Still, people are still partying, you hear me.”
Once a symbol of alternative American lifestyle, Burning Man has become an annual late-summer destination for social media influencers and celebrities. The event, named for the burning of human statues at the venue known as Playa, was delayed by rain.
This year’s attendees included comedian Chris Rock and DJ Diplo. According to a TikTok post by Diplo, they fled in the back of a pickup truck after reaching the highway on foot. Videos on social media showed other festival-goers trudging five miles through six inches of mud trying to escape the venue before the lockdown came into force.
“Welcome to Burning Man aka Hellscape,” a TikTok post by a user named Thatcher showed clips of hundreds of mountain bikes sinking into inches of mud.
Burning Man organizers are urging attendees to shelter in place and conserve food, water and fuel. The local airport is closed and driving is not permitted except for emergency vehicles.
“Take a moment of calm to connect with campers and squat,” organizers wrote on X (formerly Twitter) Saturday morning.
The Pershing County Sheriff’s Office, the local police authority, said it was investigating a death in the rainstorm. Wet conditions made it “nearly impossible” for vehicles to cross Praia, police said.
“Additional rain is expected over the next few days, which could cause further delays and disruptions to attendees attempting to leave the festival,” Pershing County Sheriff Jerry Allen said in a statement.
Attendees were quick to post videos on TikTok and Instagram of the weekend’s conditions, including immobile, sunken SUVs and broken portable toilets.
“I’ve never seen a situation like this — even a good mountain bike doesn’t work,” Marshall Mosher, who attended the festival, said Sunday on TikTok. He ends his video with a clip of a rainbow over a campsite and a quote: “No matter the challenge. Burning Man showed us that there is always beauty on the other side of adversity.”
The National Weather Service expects rain and thunderstorms to continue into Sunday night. Some festival goers said they didn’t expect to leave until Wednesday.
On Saturday, first-timer Angie Peacock reassured her followers on TikTok that she was alive and dismissed concerns about the status of Burning Man. Peacock said the water supply had been shut off and she was helping to pull the cables out of the mud.
“We’re just doing some basic life activities . . . I can probably predict that everyone will be naked and run in the mud.” Hours later, Peacock shared a clip of the naked mud run on Instagram.
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