Burning Man flooding keeps thousands stranded at Nevada site as authorities investigate 1 death

The CEO of Burning Man said Sunday that the situation at the venue in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert was under control and far from alarming.

“There is no cause for panic,” Marian Goodell told NBC News.

Burning Man’s estimated 70,000-plus attendees were isolated at the venue known as Black Rock City as rain returned Sunday and as closed roads, muddy campgrounds and one reported death darkened the day.

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Thousands of Burning Man attendees partied hard on Sunday despite downpours that turned the Nevada desert where the annual arts and music festival takes place into a sea of sticky mud and led officials to order the multitudes to shelter in place.

While hundreds escaped, others got stuck in the thick, gooey mud that coated the normally dusty lake bed where the festival occurs. Those remaining said there was plenty of food and drinks to keep the party going.

“When you get pushed to extremes, that’s when the most fun happens,” said Brian Fraoli, 45, a veteran “burner” who works in finance in New York.

As heavy rain turns Burning Man 2023 into a muddy mess, a deluge of unsympathetic jokes has swamped the internet outside Black Rock City, the temporary location built annually for the nine-day festival in the remote desert of Nevada.

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President Joe Biden was briefed on the situation at the Burning Man festival in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert, a White House official said.

Administration officials were monitoring the situation and getting updates from state and local officials, the official said.

Event attendees should pay attention to updates from state and local officials and event organizers, the White House official said.

Spirits remain steady at Burning Man, but as rain continues to fall on the playa, concerns are rising about long-term risks as attendees run low on supplies and temperatures remain unseasonably low.

Because attendees agree to a philosophy of radical self-reliance as part of the Burning Man experience, many take their own supplies.

But as time goes on with no way in or out of Black Rock City, there will eventually be a shortage of water and fuel to keep warm, said Dr. Maya Alexandri, a resident physician who volunteers for the festival’s emergency medical services.

She estimated that 65,000 people are still at the festival, including young children and many elderly people.

"If the port-a-potties overflow, we're going to be in a massive, massive public health disaster. So that's, that's risk No.1," Alexandri said. "Risk No. 2 is that people don't have enough warm clothing and start suffering, like, serious health effects because of cold. ... These are very, very extreme and devastating conditions under the best circumstances."

Alexandri noted that most people plan to stay at the festival only long enough to see the wooden man burn, which would have been yesterday, and most likely did not bring medications for extended stays.

And, of course, there are always medical issues surrounding drug use, Alexandri said.

"You know, people out here are using a lot of ketamine, a lot of shrooms, a lot of psychedelics, MDMA," she said. "If you're in a disaster situation, you think you're in the apocalypse and then you take ketamine, you've made the apocalypse worse. So we're gonna have a lot of people really suffering from that perspective, as well."

So far, people in her camp have adopted something of a "band playing on the deck of the Titanic" attitude, Alexandri said.

"I think, you know, a lot of times there's kind of, like, a schadenfreude about Burning Man," Alexandri said. "People are like, well, you know, 'f--- them, they deserve it,' which I think is not, like, not really kind of an appropriate attitude here, because this is 65,000 people in a situation that very, very, very rapidly could turn into an extraordinary disaster."

A flash flood watch remains in effect for many parts of Nevada, including the northwest, according to the National Weather Service.

Black Rock Forest, where around 70,000 Burning Man attendees are gathered for the festival, is in the northwest.

"Flash flooding caused by excessive rainfall" is possible in parts of eastern, north central, northeast, northwest and south central Nevada, the agency said in an update this morning.

"Excessive runoff may result in flooding of rivers, creeks, streams, and other low-lying and flood-prone locations," the NWS said. "Flooding may occur in poor drainage and urban areas. Low-water crossings may be flooded. Storm drains and ditches may become clogged with debris."

The flash flood watch is in effect until tomorrow morning.

Organizers are still encouraging Burning Man attendees to continue to shelter in place in Black Rock City (BRC) this morning.

All inbound and outbound traffic remains halted until further notice.

"As of 10 AM, several thunderstorms are moving across western Nevada and the National Weather Service has issued a warning about on particularly strong cell," organizers said in an update Sunday. "Although none of these storms are directly approaching the playa as of 10 AM, new cells can form quickly, and BRC will likely be affected by significant weather today, including rain and strong winds."

The roads in Black Rock City "remain too wet and muddy to officially open them for Exodus," organizers said, referring to attendees ' departure from the festival.

Organizers also encouraged attendees not to drive on campgrounds.

"Chance of showers above 30% until midday, 10% after 5 PM. Expected rain between 0.1” and 0.25," organizers tweeted.

Neal Katyal, the former acting U.S. solicitor general, is among the Burning Man attendees who decided to take the risk and hike out of the festival grounds.

In a post on X, Katyal described his journey out of the desert as a "harrowing 6 mile hike" that began after midnight. He wrote that the walk was "very slippery and the mud is like cement and sticks to your boots."

"No one should try this unless in good shape and part of a group," he wrote. "It was quite hard, and will get harder if/when it rains more. Talk your friends out of the hike unless you really think they can do it safely. There are treacherous places where it is worse than walking on ice."

In a list of tips, Katyal also advised anyone who wanted to make the hike to use GPS and wrap their feet in plastic underneath their shoes.

"There are lots of places where you sink into the mud down to your ankle," he wrote. "You need the plastic bag to avoid being soaked."

Plans to "burn the man" are still in effect in Black Rock City tonight, if the weather allows, organizers said.

"We plan to burn the Man at 9:30pm tonight (9/3), weather permitting. We will share additional information by noon today," the organizers said Sunday morning.

DJ and producer Diplo said he hitched a ride out of Burning Man's Black Rock City to make it to a concert he was performing at last night.

“I legit walked the side of the road for hours with my thumb out cuz i have a show in dc tonight and didnt want to let yall down,” he captioned a post on Instagram.

Videos posted to his Instagram story show Diplo walking through mud before, he says, he hitchhiked to Gerlach and Reno to make a flight to Washington, D.C.

“I just got done DJ’ing for three hours, after walking f---ing for four hours out of the desert and taking a flight, mud still on my face,” he said in a video posted to his Instagram story last night.

Representatives for Diplo and Chris Rock did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Kevin Schultz was scheduled to leave Burning Man on Friday so he could make his friend’s wedding in Houston. Schultz, 22, was attending his first Burning Man festival after his recent college graduation.

He left before the festival was locked down, when the weather was still clear, and his bus ended up being stuck in the mud as the storm rolled in.

What was supposed to have been a few hours on a bus turned into a 20-hour escape from the desert. 

“We ended up being sheltered on the bus, you know, pretty much like indefinitely as we wait for the ground and the area to dry out,” Schultz said.

As what had been expected to be just a short downpour turned into a prolonged storm, Schultz and others spent the night on the bus. There was “no plan” to get back to camp or to the city, he said.

Going back to Burning Man seemed like a bad idea, Schultz decided, as he considered issues with sanitation and resource scarcity. So he and six other people decided to take a risk -- tie trash bags around their feet and walk to town when they woke up yesterday morning.

“It’s slippery, the most slippery thing ever, where one moment it’s like … it’s suction cupping your foot and the next moment you’re sliding all about,” Schultz said. “So it’s super unpredictable, but we were able to find, like, walk along with the little dry ridges and whatnot for the majority of the distance.”