BLACK ROCK CITY, Nevada − Authorities on Sunday were investigating a death at the sprawling, mud-caked Burning Man festival while more than 70,000 attendees were told to shelter in place and conserve food, fuel and water amid heavy rains that made driving out of the swampy desert venue almost impossible.

The Pershing County Sheriff's Office said the death occurred "during this rain event" but offered no details, including the person's identity.

The vast majority of attendees appeared to be well-sheltered, with adequate food and water, and none of the more than 20 people interviewed by USA TODAY expressed concern about their well-being. Some camps were handing out coffee, blueberry pancakes and mimosas, as is tradition, while others quietly dismantled their tents and other structures, normal activity for the Sunday before Labor Day at Burning Man.

The rains returned Sunday, and organizers warned safe exit in vehicles might not be feasible before late Monday.

"We have confidence in communal effort and civic responsibility," organizers said in a statement. "This is a good moment to (keep) those principles in mind."

Vehicle traffic halted in muddy mess

It began raining Friday, turning the normally rock-hard desert floor into a muddy mess almost impossible to walk or drive on. Burning Man officials said only four-wheel-drive vehicles with adequate tires appeared capable of navigating the streets.

On Saturday the gates were locked to vehicles − nobody in, nobody out − and attendees were told to conserve necessities. Vehicle traffic was halted, including servicing for the thousands of portable toilets. Organizers began rationing ice sales.

Sunday arrived to more mud, more stranded vehicles and more frustration for people who wanted to leave. Organizers said people are free to walk out of the event but noted it would mean a 5-mile trudge across the mud to reach the nearest paved road. Organizers were deploying buses to nearby Gerlach that could shuttle people to Reno if they were able to trek off the playa on foot.

Festival-goers struggle to contact outside world

Organizers were deploying temporary cellphone towers as the attendees struggled to alter travel arrangements and connect with worried family members back home. Authorized emergency vehicles were moving about the festival "city," but organizers stressed that they were not releasing all vehicles.

"It will hamper Exodus if we have cars stuck on roads in our camping areas or on the Gate Road out of the city," the statement said. "PLEASE don’t be that person. The roads will dry."

Organizers said it was still possible that gates would be opened late Monday "if weather conditions are in our favor." But the National Weather Service was calling for showers and thunderstorms into Sunday night.

Despite hardships, a 'lovely' experience

"I'm not mad at all," said repeat attendee Calvin Seleen of Portland. "I've learned to be prepared. We're just inconvenienced. Although I guess if you have to use the portapotties you're majorly inconvenienced."

Walking down a muddy street carrying platform shoes in garbage bags, Martha Diaz of California said her first trip to Burning Man was a success. "I've had a good time, big time," said Diaz as she headed to find her car and leave. "I'm just a little frustrated because I was supposed to work tomorrow. I'm trying to get out of here and so far I can't."

Barbara Wahl, 50, of Eugene, Oregon, sat in a folding chair in the sun reading an Isaac Asimov novel, little betraying her anxiety to get going. A nurse, she said she needs to get back to work soon. But she said she had heard a rumor that people trying to leave were being corralled and ticketed, and she decided not to chance it.

Wahl attended Burning Man once 20 years ago and hadn’t been back until now. She said it was a positive experience overall.

"It’s been lovely. The art has been great the people have been great," she said. "I’m just a little anxious about leaving.”

Hiking out to see her cat, daughter and job

Francheska Cermeno was hiking out Sunday, hoping to catch a ride back to Reno. Still wearing a fur vest and with plastic bags taped over for feet, she said she needed to get home to Tennessee soon.

"Everybody else from my camp is from California so they are just going to wait it out. But I need to get back," she said. "My cat. My daughter. My job. I need to be in Tennessee by tomorrow so I need to be at the airport today.”

Shanell Snyder, of Washington state, walked the roads Sunday with her husband and mother-in-law, hoping to find a clear path out.

“The plan was to leave last night, We all have work,” she said. “We will leave when we can, I guess. ... It’s still a blast. It’s probably all good − until we get stuck here for days and days.”

As they packed up camp, Mel Cherne and Clint Randolph said they found the overall experience this year to be average. They didn't mind that the highlight of the annual event, the burning of the Man, had not taken place. Cherne said he mostly came to support his son, who had several DJ slots at dance parties. But they worried about the "unusable" portable toilets.

“The restrooms are horrible, and I didn’t know how that’s going to get any better,” Randolph said.

Burning Man 2023:With no estimate of reopening time, Burners party in the rain and mud

Some ignore ban, flee in vehicles

By Sunday morning, tempers were beginning to flare as people walking out tried to flag down rides from drivers flooring it through the mud. An increasing number of Burning Man attendees were ignoring driving restrictions and fleeing the playa in advance of forecasted rain storms later Sunday. Although some intersections were blocked by cautionary tales of people who tried to leave earlier when the roads were more muddy, improving conditions Sunday morning prompted some to take the risk, particularly if they had pickups or 4x4 vehicles.

“It looks kind of apocalyptic, no?” laughed college student and first-time attendee Karolína Havlíková of the Chechen Republic.

Festival deaths in 2017, 2014, 2003

Festival deaths are not uncommon. In 2019, Shane Billingham, 33, of New Zealand, was found dead in his vehicle. Toxicology results later found a lethal concentration of carbon monoxide in his blood. Burning Man was not held in 2020 or 2021 because of the pandemic, although people showed up on the playa anyway for unofficial gatherings.

In an event that horrified witnesses in 2017, Aaron Joel Mitchell ran into the fire as the Man effigy burned, dodging safety rangers and firemen, and threw himself into the flames. Mitchell, 41, was pronounced dead after being flown to the burn center at UC-Davis.

Alicia Cipicchio of Jackson, Wyo., 29, died at Burning Man in 2014 when she was hit by an art car. The Humboldt General Hospital told the Reno Gazette Journal at the time that at least two others had died at Burning Man since the hospital began providing medical response in 2011.

Another attendee was killed by an art car in 2003, Burning Man officials told the Reno Gazette Journal. Art cars are like parade floats and include elaborate decorations, lighting and areas for groups of people to sit down or stand.

− Peggy Santoro, Reno Gazette-Journal

No burning man at Burning Man this year

The event began Aug. 27 and was scheduled to end Monday. The main event, the burning of a massive Man effigy towering over the temporary city that was scheduled for Saturday night, was canceled. 

"Burning Man is a community of people who are prepared to support one another," organizers said in a post on their website late Saturday. "We have come here knowing this is a place where we bring everything we need to survive. It is because of this that we are all well-prepared for a weather event like this." 

What is Burning Man?

The fest takes its name from a giant, humanesque sculpture that is the centerpiece, changing in appearance year to year. Called The Man, the sculpture is ignited and burned to cap off the event.

It began in 1986, when two men burned an eight-foot tall human-shaped sculpture in San Francisco’s Baker Beach as a small crowd gathered to watch the first annual Burning Man. Today, tens of thousands of people gather in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert each summer for about nine days to create a temporary city known for its communal living and eccentric displays of art and expression. “Burners” create a kind of utopia, building villages, a medical center, an airport and performance stages. 

Burning Man co-founder Larry Harvey laid out 10 principles of Burning Man in 2004, among them inclusion of all who wish to take part, unconditional sharing and gift-giving, self-reliance and civic responsibility. Burning Man is all about self-expression and the rejection of corporatism and capitalism − instead of using money, attendees borrow, barter and trade.

− Francisco Guzman, USA TODAY