Tens of thousands of people are unable to leave the Burning Man festival site in Nevada. Due to heavy rains, the soil in the desert area has been washed away and roads are blocked. CNN reports one death.
Due to washed out roads, emergency services cannot reach the festival site. Festival organizers are asking guests to stay sheltered and consume only canned food and bottled water. When and how visitors will be evacuated has not yet been clarified.
According to local meteorological services, in just one day from Friday to Saturday, 2-3 months’ worth of precipitation fell in the Nevada desert. The rains don’t stop. Eyewitnesses reported that the usually dry ground turned into an ankle-deep layer of liquid mud due to the rains.
The exact number of Burning Man visitors currently in the desert is unknown. About 70 thousand tickets were sold for the festival.
Burning Man is one of the largest cultural events in the United States. The festival takes place in Nevada every year. During the week, concerts, performances, and open-air contemporary art exhibitions take place there around the clock. This year the festival dates are from August 28 to September 4. At the moment, admission of new visitors to the festival has been stopped.
