Burning Man attendees shelter in place after rain turns Nevada site into flooded, 'muddy mess'

Organizers of Burning Man, hit by flooding that left thousands of attendeesstranded in the Nevada desert on Saturday, said they would be organizing shuttle buses to take people from the site of the counter-culture festival.

Those running the weeklong event closed vehicular access to the festival on Saturday, a day after a rainstormswept through the area. It left attendees trudging through mud, many barefoot or wearing plastic bags on their feet. Revellers were urged to shelter in place and conserve food, water and other supplies.

"We are currently configuring the organization's wifi system for public access," a task they expected would becompleted before 10 p.m. local time Saturday, the Burning Man website said.

Organizers encouraged participants to remain calm and suggestedthe festival is built to endure conditions like the flooding. They said their plancalls for busesto take attendees to Reno from the nearest town of Gerlach, a walk of about eight kilometresfrom the site.

However, vehicle gates will not open for the remainder of the event, which began on Aug. 27 and was scheduled to end Monday, according to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, which oversees the Black Rock Desert where the festival is being held.

WATCH |Canadian at Burning Man in good spirits despite 'muddy mess':

Canadian at Burning Man in good spirits despite 'muddy mess'

12 months ago

Duration 3:09

Mark Fromson, one of thousands of attendees stranded by flooding at the Burning Man counter-culture festival in the Nevada desert, credited 'Burners' with being well-prepared. 'We could stay here another week if we had to,' Fromson told CBC News.

"We just watched [the rain] come down until, basically, it was a muddy mess," Canadian festival-goerMark Fromsontold CBC News on Sunday.

"You couldn't move bikes, all vehicles were basically stopped in their tracks, people were losing their shoes in the mud," he added. "It was pretty chaotic."

Celebrity DJ Diplo posted a video to Instagram on Saturday evening showing him and comedian Chris Rock riding in the back of a fan's pickup truck. He said they had walked six miles (9.6 kilometres) through the mud before hitching a ride.

"I legit walked the side of the road for hours with my thumb out," wrote Diplo, whose real name is Thomas Wesley Pentz.

More than 12 millimetresof rain is believed to have fallen on Friday at the festival site, located about 177 kilometresnorth of Reno. According to the U.S. National Weather Service, at least another six millimetres wasexpected on Sunday.

Police probing possible death

Nevada authorities on Sunday said they were investigating one death at the festival.

The Pershing County Sheriff's Office in northern Nevada said in a statement that the death happened during a "rain event" on Saturday but did not provide details of the cause of death or the person's identity.

"The family has been notified and the death is under investigation," the sheriff's office said. "As the death is still under investigation, there is no further information at this time."

The Reno Gazette Journal reported organizers started rationing ice sales and that all vehicle traffic at the sprawling festival grounds had been stopped, leaving portable toilets unable to be serviced.

Vehicles could depart by late Monday

More than 60,000 participants travel to and from the remotearea in northwest Nevada every year, according to the event'swebsite, gathering in the temporary city to make art, dance, andenjoy community. Local media reported there were around 73,000 "Burners" a moniker for festival-goers in Black Rock City this year.

Because of the mud, no driving is allowed except for emergency vehicles and organizers said they didn't have a time yet when the roads would "be dry enough for RVs or vehicles to navigate safely." But if weather conditions improve, they were hopeful vehicles could depart by late Monday.

The announcements came just before the culminating moment for the annual event when a large wooden effigy was to be burned Saturday night.

WATCH | Thousands of festival attendees stranded afterheavy rain:

Torrential rain turns Burning Man festival into muddy mess

12 months ago

Duration 2:27

Around 70,000 people attending the Burning Man festival in a remote Nevada desert are stranded after torrential rains turned the normally dry, dusty ground into a muddy mess.

Many people played beer pong, danced and splashed in standing water, the Gazette Journal reported. Mike Jed, a festival-goer, and fellow campers made a bucket toilet so people didn't have to trudge as often through the mud to reach the portable toilets.

"If it really turns into a disaster, well, no one is going to have sympathy for us," Jed said. "I mean, it's Burning Man."

Fromsontold CBC News that "Burners"are self-reliant and uniquely prepared a situation like this.

"We come out here really, really prepared for the most part," he said. "The majority of the 'Burners' always come with double what they need, so we can stay here another week if we had to."