Thousands of people stranded by flooding at Burning Man could leave today

The 72,000 festival attendees Burning Man who are trapped in the Nevada desert, in the United States, after torrential rains left the terrain muddy, will be able to leave the premises starting this Monday.

This was confirmed by the organizers of the popular festival in their latest update published on the event’s website. “The exodus is scheduled to officially begin around noon today (7:00 pm), Monday, September 4,” they noted.

Although the entrance road to Black Rock City, the name of the temporary city that is built each year to host the festival, is still “a little muddy and there is still too much standing water,” it is drying out and vehicles will be able to exit starting this afternoon.

Still, organizers asked attendees to delay their departure until Tuesday, to alleviate “a large amount of congestion throughout the day today.”

Since last Friday, hundreds of vehicles, many of them heavy caravans, were stuck in the desert, after the torrential rains that occurred between Friday night and Saturday collapsed the site.

Roads in and out of Black Rock City were closed Saturday and The organizers asked attendees to take shelter and ration their food and water since it was practically impossible for vehicles to circulate. This is seen in images published by the American media, taken from the air by a drone, in which hundreds of stranded vehicles appear, surrounded by mud.

In just 24 hours, rain equivalent to two or three months (up to 0.8 inches) was recorded in the area.

Although the organizers of the event asked attendees to take shelter and not try to leave the area on their own, hundreds of them decided to escape by walking through the desert.

According to the Pershing County Sheriff’s Office, some attendees walked to a main road to wait for buses sent by festival organizers Saturday night.

The Burning Man festival takes place each year on a dry lake in the Nevada desert, where a temporary city is built that can be accessed via a two-lane highway.

During the event, attendees can participate in a series of artistic and community activities that, according to some attendees, have continued to take place these days despite the conditions on the ground.

According to the organizers, the festival is guided by a series of principles including “civil responsibility”, “radical expression” or “leave no trace”, and the use of money is not allowed (although tickets to attend They cost hundreds of dollars).

In their statement published today, the organizers insisted on one of the festival’s principles: “Don’t forget to leave no trace and community effort when you leave. “All participants are expected to pack up everything they brought and clean the camp space before leaving town.”