Authorities are investigating a death at the Burning Man festival after a rain event stranded thousands of festivalgoers Saturday.
Thousands of people attending the Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert are being told to conserve food and water as they shelter in place.
"The family has been notified and the death is under investigation," the sheriff's office said in a late Saturday news release. For now, 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, the organizers said on social media. Black Rock City is a temporary metropolis that is erected annually for the festival and comes complete with emergency, safety and sanitary infrastructure.
Hannah Burhorn, a first-time attendee at the festival, told CNN people were trudging through the mud barefoot or with bags tied around their feet. Amar Singh Duggal and his friends managed to leave the festival after hiking about 2 miles in the mud, he told CNN. He estimated it took them about 2 hours to get to a main road where they arranged to be picked up and taken to Reno, about a 120-mile drive from the event grounds.
Still, the poor conditions have not stopped the creativity, said Burhorn, who had traveled from San Francisco.Andrew Hyde, another attendee stuck at the Burning Man, said that despite the muddy conditions making it difficult to walk, the weather has taken the meaning of the event back to its roots. "I think the concern is if we have another rain," he said. "People need to go back to their jobs, back to the responsibilities they have back home."Organizers announced Saturday night they'll be putting mobile cell trailers in different positions, configuring the organization's Wi-Fi system for public access and deploying buses to nearby Gerlach to take people who might walk off the playa to Reno.
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