Burning Man revellers begin exodus after flooding left tens of thousands stranded in Nevada desert

Muddy roads that left tens of thousands of attendeesstranded for days at Burning Man, acounterculture festival held inthe northern Nevada desert,had dried up enough by Monday afternoon to allow them to begin their exodus from the site.

Burning Man organizers said they began to let traffic flow out of the main road around 2 p.m. local time even as they continued to ask revellers to delay their exit to Tuesday to ease traffic.

As of Monday afternoon, they said about 64,000 people remained at the festival site.

Organizers also asked attendees not to walk out of the Black Rock Desert about 177 kilometresnorth of Reno as others had done throughout the weekend, including DJ Diplo and comedian Chris Rock. They didn't specify why.

Attendees were ordered to shelter in place

For days, some 70,000 people were ordered to shelter in placeand to conserve food and water as officials closed the roads and exits, ordering all vehicles to stay put lest they getstuck in the mud and blocktraffic.

The festival had been closed to vehicles after more than 13millimetresof rain fell on Friday.

The road closures came just before "the Man" was to be set ablaze Saturday night.

The event traditionally culminates in the torching of the large wooden effigy shaped like a man and a wooden temple structure during the final two nights, but the fires were postponed to Monday night as authorities worked to reopen exit routes by the end of the Labour Day weekend.

Mark Deutschendorf, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Reno, said it should stay mostly clear and dry at the festival site Monday, although some light rain showers could pass through Tuesday morning.

The weather service said the general area received between 19 millimetres and 38 millimetres of rain since late Friday.

Some partiedin the rain

Some of the festival-goers ignored the order to stay put over the weekend and attempted to walk or drive out to the nearest highway.

Others partied on in the rain.

WATCH | Canadian at Burning Man in good spirits despite 'muddy mess':

Canadian at Burning Man in good spirits despite 'muddy mess'

12 months ago

Duration 3:09

Mark Fromson, one of thousands of attendees stranded by flooding at the Burning Man counter-culture festival in the Nevada desert, credited 'Burners' with being well-prepared. 'We could stay here another week if we had to,' Fromson told CBC News.

Videos posted to social media showed costumed revellers including a few children sliding through the sticky mess, most of them covered from head to toe in mud.

"When you get pushed to extremes, that's when the most fun happens," said Brian Fraoli, 45, a veteran "burner" who works in finance in New York.

Fraoli said he had tried to drag his luggage through the mud and escape, but he gave up and decided to relax and enjoy the experience. "Overall it was an amazing week and next time we will be more prepared," he said.

Every year Burning Man brings tens of thousands of people to the Nevada desert to dance, make art and enjoy being part of a self-sufficient, temporary community of like-minded spirits. This year's version opened on Aug. 27 and was scheduled to run through Monday.

It originated in 1986 as a small gathering on a San Francisco beach and is now attended by celebrities and social media influencers. A regular ticket costs $575.

WATCH | Lines of cars snake through drenched desert:

Burning Man exodus begins following torrential rain in Nevada

12 months ago

Duration 1:32

People attending this year's Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert finally began to leave Monday as the front gates were reopened. Torrential rain caused the dry desert to become a muddy mess and forced attendees to shelter in place.