Of the 72,000 people on site, 62,000 were still waiting Monday noon to be able to leave the premises. The organizers of Burning Man, this festival that takes place in a Nevada desert, gave festival-goers permission on Monday to leave the area where thousands of people were stuck in mud caused by heavy rains this weekend. To avoid traffic jams, the organizers nevertheless suggested that festival-goers wait until Tuesdayi for try to go home.
“Burning Man” is an indefinable annual gathering, between celebration of the counter-culture and spiritual retreat, created in 1986 in San Francisco. Since the 1990s, it has taken place in the Black Rock Desert, a protected area in northwest Nevada, which the festival management is committed to preserving. Access to Black Rock City, the name of the site, a few tens of kilometers from the first dwellings, was closed on Friday due to bad weather which transformed the “Playa”, a huge open field, into a visibly impable muddy expanse.
VIDEO. “It’s quite terrifying”: Burning Man festival-goers trapped in the middle of the desert by the rain
Local authorities had asked people to “stay there until the ground becomes solid and safe enough” to allow movement. The participants were notably invited to “conserve water, food and fuel and find a warm and safe shelter”. A 40-year-old man died during the festival, but authorities said the death was unrelated to weather conditions.
1. Thousands of people were still waiting on Monday to get on buses to leave Burning Man
2. Festival-goers were asked to “conserve water, food and fuel and find warm and safe shelter”.
3. From Sunday, some were trying to reach the only road on foot through the mud
4. From Monday, the first departures caused traffic jams on the road leading to the site
5. A caravan and its trailer stuck in the mud on Monday
