Burning Man festival flooding strands tens of thousands at Nevada site; authorities investigate 1 death

Burning Man fest in Nevada turns into muddy mess, but spirits remain unbroken. Tens of thousands of partygoers stuck in foot-deep mud, no working toilets, but spirits remain high. One death reported, roads closed, burning postponed. Organisers provide food, water, shuttles to Reno, vehicles leaving steadily. Revelers adapt, share resources, dance in mud. BLM overseeing, investigating death.

An unusual late-summer storm turned a week-long counterculture fest into a sloppy mess with tens of thousands of partygoers stuck in foot-deep mud and with no working toilets in the northern Nevada desert in the U.S. But some Burning Man revelers said Sunday that their spirits remained unbroken.

Organisers closed the festival to vehicles after one death was reported. Officials provided no details of the fatality.

The annual gathering in the Black Rock Desert about 110 miles (177 kilometers) north of Reno attracts nearly 80,000 artists, musicians and activists for a mix of wilderness camping and avant-garde performances. Disruptions are part of the event's recent history: Organisers had to temporarily close entrances to the festival in 2018 due to dust storms, and the event was twice cancelled altogether during the pandemic.

“We are a little bit dirty and muddy but spirits are high. The party still going,” said Scott London, a Southern California photographer, adding that the travel limitations offered “a view of Burning Man that a lot of us don’t get to see.”

More than half an inch (1.3 centimeters) of rain and possibly close to 1 inch (2.5 centimeters) fell this weekend in parts of northwest Nevada, which includes the area where the Burning Man festival was being held, said Mark Deutschendorf, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Reno.

For the Reno area, which is about 141 miles (227 km) south of the festival, the average rainfall for the whole month of September would be 0.21 inches (0.53 centimeters), Deutschendorf said.

“Already, everywhere from Reno up to the Burning Man area, Black Rock, we’ve already exceeded that — and it’s only three days into the month,” he said. Rainfall for the area around the festival was ending on Sunday, he said.