US authorities are investigating a death in burning man festival in the Nevada desert, as thousands of people remain trapped after heavy rains flooded the area, creating ankle-deep, thick mud that sticks to campers’ shoes and vehicle tires.
Attendees were told to take shelter in the Black Rock Desert and conserve food, water and fuel after a storm flooded the area, forcing authorities to bar anyone from entering or leaving the festival.
About 70,000 people remained trapped Saturday, Pershing County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Nathan Carmichael told the CNN on Sunday morning (3). Some people left on foot, but “most of the trailers are locked in place,” he said.
The remote area in northwest Nevada was hit by 2-3 months worth of rain in just 24 hours between Friday (1st) and Saturday morning. The heavy rains fell on dry desert terrain, kicking up thick, clayey mud that festival-goers said was too difficult to walk or cycle through.
More rain is forecast Sunday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service office in Reno. “Stronger storms will be able to cause very heavy rain, small hail and wind gusts of more than 60 km/h,” the meteorological service noted. These conditions are likely to occur in the Burning Man festival area between 1pm and 5pm local time, the analysis showed. CNN .
“Conditions are not expected to improve enough to allow vehicles to enter,” the Bureau of Land Management said in a note to the Reno Gazette Journal.
The sheriff’s office said it was investigating “a death that occurred during this rain.” Authorities have not publicly released the person’s name or provided details about the circumstances of the death. “The family has been notified and the death is under investigation,” the sheriff’s office said in a news release Saturday night.
The person was found on the “playa” and rescue procedures to revive him were unsuccessful, Carmichael said on Sunday, without giving further details.
Playa is the term used to describe dry, sunken lake beds in deserts where water evaporates rather than runs off, and even a small amount of rain can quickly soak a large area.
Authorities have not provided information on when roads may reopen, but the sun is expected to return on Monday.
“We currently do not have an estimated time for the roads to be dry enough for trailers or vehicles to pass safely,” Burning Man organizers said in a statement late on Saturday. “Monday, at the end of the day, it will be possible, if the weather conditions are in our favor. It can be earlier.”
Organizers noted that rain falling on the already saturated site “affects how long the playa takes to dry”.
For now, Black Rock City’s gate and airport remain closed and no entry or exit from the city is allowed except emergency vehicles, organizers said on social media. Black Rock City is a temporary metropolis erected annually for the festival and has emergency, security and health infrastructure.
The rain “made it impossible for motor vehicles to pass through the area,” the Pershing County Sheriff’s Office said, noting that people were advised to take shelter until the ground had dried enough to drive safely.
Vehicles trying to leave will get stuck in the mud, Burning Man organizers said on Saturday. “It will be an obstacle to the Exodus [nome dado pela organização ao momento da saída] if we have cars stuck on the roads of our campsites or on the Gate Road outside the city,” the organizers added.
“If you are in Black Rock City, please shelter in place and stay safe,” organizers said.
difficult conditions
Some festival-goers trekked for miles on foot through thick mud to reach the main roads, while others stayed in their camps, waiting for conditions to improve.
Hannah Burhorn, who attended the festival for the first time, told CNN that people walked through the mud barefoot or with bags tied to their feet.
“People who tried to ride a bike got stuck because [a lama] it came down to her ankles,” Burhorn said. The mud is so thick that it “sticks to your shoes and makes it feel like a boot around your boot,” she added.
It’s not clear exactly how many people are trapped at the festival, but typically more than 70,000 people attend the week-long event, which runs from August 28 to September 4 this year.
There were no reports of injuries Saturday afternoon, Sean Burke, director of emergency management for Pershing County, told the CNN .
Amar Singh Duggal and his friends managed to leave the festival after walking about 3 kilometers in the mud. He estimated that it took them about two hours to reach a main road, where they arranged a ride and were taken to Reno, about a 120-mile drive from the venue.
“We did it, but it was real hell [caminhar] in the mud,” said Duggal. “Each step felt like we were walking with two big concrete blocks under our feet.”
Meanwhile, participants who normally spend their time on the arts and building communities are now also focused on rationing supplies and dealing with connectivity issues.
“Internet is super limited and a lot of people at the camp are trying to cancel flights and schedule extended time here” due to the weather, Burhorn said via text message from a camp with Wi-Fi.
Even so, the bad conditions didn’t stop the creativity, said Burhorn, who traveled from San Francisco. “People are building mud sculptures,” she said.
Andrew Hyde, another attendee stranded at Burning Man, said that while muddy conditions made walking difficult, the weather brought the event’s meaning back to its roots.
“You come here for tough weather and you prepare for it,” Hyde said. “So in many ways, everyone here has made friends with their neighbors and it’s a community event.”
The mood at the event is good and there is generally no panic among attendees, Hyde said, describing the music’s return overnight. However, there are concerns about additional rain causing delays, and the unknown of worsening conditions.
“I think the concern is if we get another rainstorm,” he said. “People need to go back to their jobs, to their responsibilities at home.”
Assistance to participants
Organizers announced Saturday night that they will place mobile cell trailers in different positions, configure the organization’s Wi-Fi system for public access and deploy buses to nearby Gerlach to take people who can leave the venue to Reno.
“This is probably not a 24/7 operation at this time,” the festival said in a statement on its website.
Organizers are also providing four-wheel drive vehicles to help transport medical situations and other urgent cases to the tarmac.
There were people who were able to walk to a main road and wait for transportation from festival organizers on Saturday night, the Pershing County Sheriff’s Office said.
Resources were flown in from northern Nevada to help people with medical needs at the event site, the sheriff’s office said.
“Burning Man is a community of people who are ready to support each other,” the organization said on the event’s website. “We came here knowing that this is a place where we bring everything we need to survive. That’s why we are all well prepared for a weather event like this.”
“We did exercises for events like this one,” the organizers added. “We are engaged full-time in all aspects of security and looking to our Exodus as our next priority.”
*With information from Gene Norman, Paradise Afshar, Sharif Paget, Christal Hayes, Michelle Watson and Angela Fritz of CNN.
Source: CNN Brasil
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