Thousands of Burning Man festival attendees are still trapped in the doomed venue in the middle of the Nevada desert, but while some have finally gotten out to head home, it is taking others up to nine hours to drive six miles to finally reach a paved road.
The popular festival in Black Rock, Nevada, turned into a sea of mud after heavy rainfall caused unprecedented flooding, closed roads and left attendees stranded in the muddy desert over the weekend.
The rain was so ruinous to the festival’s infrastructure that organizers advised attendees to “shelter in place and conserve food, water and other supplies,” according to CBS News.
“Vehicular gates will be closed for the remainder of the event, which began on Aug. 27 and was scheduled to end on Monday, according to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management,” CBS added.
While the festival muddled through and still lit its famous bonfire, thousands have been struggling to get out of the place.
According to NBC, thousands were backed up for hours waiting in their vehicles to finally get on the road, with many waiting in a traffic jam several miles long and spending nine hours going a mere six miles.
NBC added that the venue has also been left strewn with truckloads of garbage and even abandoned vehicles.
One long-time Burning man fan, Terry Gault, told NBC that many of the people who left trash and belongings are not “real burners.”
Gault, who stayed behind to help organizers clean up the mess left by attendees, took a swipe at those who left trash, saying, “One of the ten principles is ‘leave no trace.’ So, for those people who leave trash behind, those aren’t real burners. They probably shouldn’t be out here anyway.”
Authorities are also investigating the death of one of the festival’s fans. 32-year-old festivalgoer Leon Reece was found dead on Friday. Authorities suspect a drug overdose, but an official determination has not yet been made, according to NBC.
One man posted a short video to X and told his followers that he left all his belonging behind and walked five miles to the nearest paved road. Then he was picked up by a truck that also had comedian Chris Rock as one of its passengers.
just walked 5 miles in the mud out of burning man with chris rock and a fan picked us up pic.twitter.com/0uxSXLHgY6
— diplo (@diplo) September 2, 2023
The festival had an ominous beginning when radical enviro activists tried to block the roads to prevent fans from getting into the desert venue. But local tribal police were less than gentle and delivered a decisive response by raming a police truck through the blockade that broke up the protest and allowed traffic to resume its movement.
Traffic was backed up as climate activists blocked the only road leading to #BurningMan pic.twitter.com/9oDorimFxz
— FreedomNews.Tv FNTV (@FreedomNTV) August 27, 2023
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