After heavy rain over the weekend flooded campsites and filled them with thick, ankle-deep mud, thousands of Burning Man attendees finally left in a mass escape. More than 70,000 free-spirited partygoers were stuck in the Nevada desert city while it dried out.
The driving ban, which was put in place because of the rain, was made public. The ban on leaving Black Rock City on Friday had been lifted by Monday afternoon, so people could leave safely. Black Rock City is a fake city that is built every year for the event.
The area was still muddy and hard to get around, the leaders said, and it took about seven hours to get out of the city on Monday night. A Burning Man website says that in the past, it has taken between six and nine hours during peak journey times.
Tuesday morning, things had changed a lot for the better:
“There is an estimated 2-3 hour wait to leave Black Rock City,” event organizers wrote on X, which used to be called Twitter. “Everyone should get a lot of sleep before getting on the road. Expect to be late and watch out for trash from faster-moving cars on the highway. Safe travels.”
Getting stuck in the desert and missing flights and other obligations was stressful and upsetting for many of the people who went. However, some people said that the weather problems brought camp communities closer together because people shared food and resources, gave protection to those who needed it, and got together.
Kaz Qamruddin, who was at the event, told CNN’s Brianna Keilar on Monday, “As soon as the tents became too wet or unsafe to live in, people in RVs started taking in some of the tenters, so everyone was warm.”
“We are a community that comes together in hard times,” he said. “It’s all about coming together and working as a team.”
Diplo, Cindy Crawford, and other celebrities try to get through the wet desert
By the time the travel ban was lifted, thousands of people had already left, some on foot and some in cars to try their luck.
DJ Diplo was one of the first people to leave. He told CNN that he and other celebrities, like Chris Rock, Cindy Crawford, Kaia Gerber, and Austin Butler, walked several miles in the wet desert early Saturday morning. When they got to a concrete road, a fan offered to take them in the back of his truck.
About 64,000 people were still there at noon on Monday, out of the 72,000 who were still there as of Sunday night.
Many people stayed because officials told them to and because they wanted to see the highlight of the event, which was the burning of the Man.
The Man, a huge wooden figure, was burned on Monday night, one day later than planned.
Why did the rain make Burning Man so different?
Friday, after the first rains soaked the tents, event organizers told people that they could no longer drive in the city. They stopped people from going in and out of the area and told them to “shelter in place” and save food and water.
Between Friday night and Saturday morning, it rained up to 0.8 inches in a rural part of northwest Nevada. That’s about twice as much as it usually rains in September. On Sunday, it rained again.
Diplo got a ride from a stranger after walking miles “through the mud” to get away from the rainy Burning Man and make it to his DC show.
The National Weather Service in Reno wrote on X, “September has started off pretty wet for most of eastern California and western Nevada.” “Nearly 2.5″ of rain fell in the far eastern parts of Churchill and Pershing counties, where it rained the most.”
