Seventy-three thousand people at the Burning Man counter-culture festival are stranded after overnight rain dropped more than a half inch of rain on the venue near Black Rock City, Nevada.
Festival-goers have been warned to shelter in place, and conserve on their food and water, as they cannot get in or out due to the deep mud. The festival declared itself in a “national emergency.”
Access to the festival is closed, the organizers wrote on the website, as “rain returns early Sunday morning and continues through the afternoon as the low pressure system moves eastward across Black Rock City and exits the region; rain is possible at any time but is most likely from sunrise to late morning. There is a 35% chance of more than 0.25″ of rain from early Sunday morning to late Sunday night, with a 10% chance of more than 0.5″. Rains will stop and skies will clear after 5 PM. Thunderstorms, which can bring gusty winds and lightning, remain unlikely but possible, particularly after 5 PM Sunday.”
The festival started Aug. 27 and was set to end on Labor Day. The Bureau of Land Management and Pershing County Sheriff have closed the entrance, and the Reno Gazette-Journal reports organizers are rationing ice.
