Burning Man festival-goers can’t leave the desert

(CNN) — Festival organizers said tens of thousands of people attending the Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert are being asked to conserve food, water and fuel as they take refuge in the Black Rock Desert after a severe storm hit the area.

They said the entrance and airport to Black Rock City, a remote area in northwest Nevada, remains closed and no entry or exit is permitted except for emergency vehicles. X regulatorsthe social networking platform formerly known as Twitter.

Do not travel to Black Rock City! Access to the city is closed for the rest of the event and you will be sent back.”

The city is forecasting more rain and thunderstorms on Sunday before 5 p.m. local time, organizers said in an update to weather forecast. Rain and thunderstorms are expected to return early Sunday morning and continue into the afternoon “as the low pressure system moves east through BlackRock City,” according to the update.

The festival, which began in 1986, takes place every summer in Black Rock City, a temporary city that is built annually for the festival.

It is famous for its final event, in which a large wooden token of a man is lit. The event attracts tens of thousands of people every year and celebrities such as Sean “Diddy” Combs and Katy Perry have attended in the past.

More than 60,000 people travel to and from the city each year via a two-lane highway to attend the festival, according to its statistics. website. The festival was canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Burning Man participants spend their time making art and building community.

Some of the on-site preparations for this year’s Burning Man were affected by Tropical Storm Hillary in August, which brought strong winds, rain and even flooding in the desert. CNN reported.