NEWS
Trapped Burning Man Attendees May Be Able To Leave Monday
Courtesy of diplo via Instagram
The Burning Man festival in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert couldn’t burn its Man on Sunday night due to lingering moisture after rain trapped attendees in the mud over the weekend.
The effigy that is burned at the end of each Burning Man festival will instead be lit on Monday night, festival organizers said on the Burning Man event website.
Some 70,000 attendees were told on Friday to shelter in place and conserve food and water, as monsoon rains bogged down vehicles and made even walking difficult in ankle-deep mud. No vehicles were allowed into or out of Black Rock City, the festival’s temporary community, as roads were impassable, according to organizers.
The Nevada Department of Transportation closed all travel lanes at Nevada State Route 447 near West Pyramid Lake Road due to flooding.
DJ Diplo hiked out of Black Rock City and hitched a ride in order to make a flight to Washington, D.C., where he was scheduled to perform Saturday night, he revealed on Instagram.
“I legit walked the side of the road for hours with my thumb out cuz i have a show in dc tonight and didnt want to let yall down,” he wrote on his Instagram.
Diplo and comedian Chris Rock were picked up by a driver in a pickup truck. The DJ made it to his flight out of Reno.
“I just got done DJ’ing for three hours, after walking f**g for four hours out of the desert and taking a flight, mud still on my face,” he said in a video posted to his Instagram story Saturday night.
Some vehicles did manage to leave the festival over the weekend, but damaged the playa surface in the process, according to the Pershing County Sheriff’s Office, which advised against driving out on the wet sand. A playa is a flat, dry lakebed that can, during monsoons, briefly become a shallow lake.
The sheriff’s office said Sunday it was investigating one death at the festival, unrelated to the weather.
“Despite afternoon drizzle, the conditions are improving on the playa,” Burning Man organizers said Sunday night. The “exodus” from the festival originally scheduled for Sunday was moved to Monday, after the playa had a chance to dry out.
According to the National Weather Service, clear and sunny skies were expected on Monday after the last of the rain passed overnight.
TMX contributed to this article.
