RENO, Nev. The entrance to the Nevada desert’s Burning Man counterculture festival was closed on Saturday, and thousands of attendees were urged to stay as storms blasted over the area.
According to the US Bureau of Land Management, which supervises the Black Rock Desert where the festival is hosted, the entrance would be closed for the duration of the event, which began on August 27 and was due to end on Monday.
According to the National Weather Service in Reno, more than a half-inch of rain fell on Friday at the event location, about 110 miles (177 kilometers) north of Reno. On Sunday, another quarter-inch of rain is forecast.
Burning Man organizers asked attendees to preserve food, drink, and fuel.
Burning Man officials have not stated when the entrance is anticipated to reopen.
Messages left for the Bureau of Land Management and the Pershing County Sheriff’s Office by The Associated Press on Saturday afternoon were not immediately returned.
The Reno Gazette-Journal released photos of festivalgoers walking through muck with waste bags wrapped around their legs. According to the publication, organizers had begun restricting ice sales. ___ This post has been updated to reflect that the amount of rain forecast at the festival on Friday was more than one-half inch, not half a foot and that another quarter of an inch, not a quarter of a foot, was expected on Sunday.
SOURCE – (AP)
