No way in or out of Burning Man after storm

On Friday night (Sep. 1), organizers were forced to shut down the festival’s gate and airport, halting access in and out of the playa. All scheduled burns for Friday night were canceled. As of 8 a.m. on Saturday (Sep. 2), the gate and airport remained closed and festival goers were being told to shelter-in-place. People are not being permitted to drive cars or bikes around the festival except for emergency vehicles. With rain in the forecast through Sunday (Sep. 3), Burners were being told to conserve resources.

“If you are in BRC, conserve food and water, shelter in a warm space,” warned festival organizers according to the Reno Gazette Journal. The news site reported that 73,000 people (a larger population than the city of Santa Cruz) are currently at the festival.

Some Burners were resorting to prayer, begging “Playa gods, please stop, we want to go home.”

As rough as it sounds, conditions could become even worse. AccuWeather is predicting an 84% chance of rain for Black Rock City on Saturday with a 24% chance of thunderstorms. Both rain and thunderstorms are even more likely on Sunday. 

Scott McGuire, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Reno office, said on Friday that even a one-hundredth of an inch of rain can cause problems for the festival grounds. As much as 0.33 inches of rain could fall on Sunday alone. 
 
This is a developing story.