Over 70,000 People Trapped in One Muddy Mess

mud

Expecting fire, what they got was rain and mud. When 70,000 or so revelers attending Burning Man this year packed their gear, they probably tossed in all the wrong stuff. Snow shoes would have been a better choice than sun block. They learned real fast it isn’t easy to get around with the equivalent of a cinder block mucked around each foot. Access is closed and everyone has been ordered to “shelter in place.

More mud than expected

There was a whole lot more mud than they expected at the annual Burning Man Festival. Nevada State and Tribal authorities urge everyone to “conserve food, water and fuel” until things dry out enough to get them evacuated.

Organizers picked a dry lake bed in the Black Rock Desert, never expecting a flood. The area picked up most of a year’s worth of rain this particular Labor Day weekend, all at once.

Heavy rains, CNN reports, “inundated the area and created thick, ankle-deep mud which sticks to campers’ shoes and vehicle tires.

According to the Pershing County Sheriff’s Office, “a little over 70,000 people remained stranded Saturday.” Some managed to make it to the highway on foot and back to civilization from there but “most of the RVs are stuck in place.

Everyone was stunned when “the remote area in northwest Nevada was hit with 2 to 3 months’ worth of rain.” Almost an inch, “in just 24 hours between Friday and Saturday morning.” The big problem is the “heavy rainfall fell on dry desert grounds, whipping up thick, clay-like mud festivalgoers said was too difficult to walk or bike through.

More rain is in the forecast for Sunday afternoon. All of those high-tech shelters are about to have the claims of their manufacturers put to the test. “Stronger storms will be capable of very heavy rainfall, small hail, and wind gusts to 40+ mph.” If not nailed down hard they could see dome tents flying around like they were in Area 51.

No vehicles moving

BLM has shut down the roadway in and out of the festival site. This isn’t another case of activists chaining themselves to trailers again, the Bureau of Land Management does exactly that around there. Manage the land. “Conditions are not expected to improve enough to allow vehicles to enter the playa” That’s Spanish for dry lake bed.

Meanwhile, along with the mud, the sheriff’s department has their hands full investigating “a death which occurred during this rain event.” While authorities did not publicly name the person or provide details on the circumstances of the death, it’s a statistically expected occurrence in a gathering of this size.

Organizers are staying glued to the weather reports. “We do not currently have an estimated time for the roads to be dry enough for RVs or vehicles to navigate safely,” Burning Man announced in an official statement. It’s all up to the mud. “Monday late in the day would be possible if weather conditions are in our favor. It could be sooner.

Then again, if they get more rain Sunday, it could take longer to dry back out. The biggest challenge is overloaded WiFi. “There is super limited bandwidth and a lot of people at the camp (are) trying to cancel flights and arrange for extended time here.

The latest word is that “the gate and airport into Black Rock City remain closed and no driving is allowed into or out of the city except for emergency vehicles.” Black rock city is what they call the temporary town they erect every year then burn back down when it’s over.

It “comes complete with emergency, safety and sanitary infrastructure.” That’s a good thing because the rain “made it virtually impossible for motorized vehicles to traverse the playa.” They instantly get stuck in the mud.

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