Seasonal rains on Friday and over the weekend caused flash flooding at the Burning Man festival, turning the normally dry desert landscape of the festival grounds into a muddy mess. September 4, 2023.
Rain around the Black Rock Desert in northwest Nevada hampered travel plans for Burning Man festival attendees on Saturday — the second year in a row that weather has caused problems for the massive festival.
Burning Man festival officials announced on Twitter Saturday morning that the gate to Black Rock City, the temporary community set up by festival participants in the desert, had been closed due to rain.
They asked travelers to postpone their trip to the festival until the gate reopening is announced, and not to wait on the side of the road until the announcement is made.
File: The grounds of the Burning Man festival in Black Rock City, Nevada, are covered in mud on Sept. 2, 2023, after seasonal storms dumped more than half an inch of rain.
(Cindy McGill/Facebook/Fox Weather)
Attendees were also asked to refrain from parking in nearby communities such as Wadsworth, Nixon, Empire and Gerlach out of respect for local residents.
Weather also hampered bus travel for event attendees. Burning Man officials announced Friday night that all buses leaving San Francisco on Saturday would be delayed by at least two hours, due to the possibility of rain overnight. Buses leaving Reno, Nevada, were also delayed.
Burning Man attendees begin leaving the festival after being trapped by flooding and mud.
“All Renault buses will be held until we have confidence in our ability to drive on the Playa,” event officials tweeted.
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Last year, monsoon rains stranded more than 70,000 festival-goers. Heavy rains and flash floods created muddy conditions in the normally dry desert, forcing the cancellation of all events scheduled for the weekend.
File: An undated photo shows a rainbow over the muddy grounds of the Burning Man festival.
(David Crane/Image Alliance/Getty Images)
Once the rain stopped and the ground dried, the mass exodus of participants created a travel nightmare that included a 5-hour delay between Black Rock City and Interstate 80.
The National Weather Service in Reno said isolated thunderstorms were possible Saturday afternoon.
Burning Man 2024 is set to officially kick off on Sunday and run through September 2.
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