The weekend’s festival hell is nearly over. After Burning Man attendees were stranded in the Nevada desert for days due to flooding, “exodus operations have officially begun,†organizers said. A ban on driving was lifted at 2 p.m. PT on September 4, when approximately 64,000 people were still on site. (Some hiked or drove out earlier against recommendations — including Chris Rock and Diplo, who hitchhiked out of the festival on September 3 so Diplo could make a show.) However, as one festivalgoer told the New York Times, cars still got stuck in the mud on their way out. Organizers had recommended festivalgoers wait until September 5 to leave to help traffic; wait times to leave the desert reportedly ballooned to over seven hours. (It’s currently at five hours.) But at least attendees who were stuck in the desert for another night finally got what they came for — after multiple delays, the burning of the man took place.
The flooding came after the desert festival grounds in northwestern Nevada were hit with months’ worth of rainfall in just 24 hours between September 1 and 2. Amid the chaos, a death was reported on September 1, which authorities said was not weather related. The deceased has since been identified as 32-year-old Leon Reece, but a cause of death has yet to be reported.
And yet Burning Man wasn’t even the center of festival mess over the weekend. Across the country, fans stormed the gates of New York’s Electric Zoo on its final day, September 3, leaving some ticket holders outside after capacity was reached. That came after the festival’s first day, on September 1, was canceled due to construction delays. Yeah, that’s enough of festival season for this summer.