Some of the 64,000 participants in the North American Burning Man festival began on Monday to leave the event, interrupted on Friday by a major storm, which caused the closure of roads in the desert of northern Nevada.
By 2:00 p.m. local time, Burning Man organizers deemed roads dry enough to allow vehicular traffic in the area, advising the public not to walk in the Black Rock Desert, 177 kilometers north of Reno. , USA. as did others over the weekend, including DJ Diplo and comedian Chris Rock.
The festival had ended after a storm hit the area, with very heavy rains causing visibility problems and a lot of mud on the roads.
The highlight of the festival, considered a benchmark of world counterculture, is the burning, for three days, of a giant puppet of a wooden human figure, from which the name of the event originates. Due to bad weather, this event was postponed until today.
Mark Deutschendorf, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Reno, said the weather should remain clear and dry at the festival site, although there could be some light showers Tuesday morning.
“We’re a little dirty and muddy, but spirits are high. The party’s on,” said Scott London, a Southern California photographer.
The annual gathering, which began on a San Francisco beach in 1986, draws some 80,000 artists, musicians and activists for a mix of wilderness camping and cutting-edge performances.
Disruptions are part of the event’s recent history: Dust storms forced organizers to temporarily close festival tickets in 2018 and the event was canceled twice during the pandemic.
This year there has been at least one fatality, but organizers said the case was not related to weather conditions.
Some participants managed to walk several kilometers to the nearest town, such as DJ Diplo, who posted a video on Instagram on Saturday night, following him in the back of a van with Chris Rock, after they had walked 9 kilometers. through the mud
The event started on August 27 and was supposed to end on Monday, but due to the storm, the organizers extended the festival another three days to allow for the traditional burning.
Source: TSF
