Burning Man Festival Shut Down By Torrential Rainfall, 73,000 Cold & Wet Attendees Stranded

On Saturday, federal officials shut down the Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert due to torrential rainfall brought on by Hurricane Hilary. The 73,000 attendees were ordered to shelter in place.

The federal Bureau of Land Management mandated that those on their way to the festival this weekend “turn around and head home.”

“Rain over the last 24 hours has created a situation that required a full stop of vehicle movement on the playa,” wrote the Bureau of Land Management in a statement, referring to the dried lakebed where most of the activities take place. “More rain is expected over the next few days and conditions are not expected to improve enough to allow vehicles to enter the playa.”

Those who had already arrived at the festival were told to conserve their food and water. Burners, as participants are commonly known, were forced to wait out the storm in tents and RVs while temperatures dropped into the low 50s.

In addition to Burning Man, the storm forced the closure of a small airport in Nevada and prevented the thousands of portable toilets at the festival site from being cleaned.

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The annual event, which provides an opportunity for artists and community makers to come together and create, ended on Monday.