Casey Donovan has said she’s among the tens of thousands of punters who got stuck in the mud after a freak rain event hit the Burning Man festival over in the US.
The annual festival in the Nevada desert attracts up to 80,000 artists, musicians and activists for a mix of wilderness camping and avant-garde performances.
But over the weekend the cultural festival turned into a giant mud pile after 150 millimetres of rain fell on the usually dry and dusty site in the Black Rock Desert.
Due to the conditions, organisers closed the festival to vehicles. Over the weekend, officials instructed stranded punters to conserve food, water and fuel after a vehicle ban was imposed. Many of the festival’s toilets were also out of use for a period of time over the weekend.
Late on Sunday our time, Casey Donovan shared a photo of a double rainbow “putting on a show for some smiles in not such an ideal situation”.
“We are safe, we have food and ‘dryish’ shelter,” she wrote in her update on Instagram.
“It is very moist here and forecast is for more rain over the next few days. Fingers and toes crossed for some sunshine to clear things up.
“I’ll get in touch when I find some more WiFi.”
Casey added in an Instagram Story that “being that it is the desert, when rain happens – not that it happens often – it is a literal mud pile.”
“So I’m thinking I might be a little stuck here until it all dries up … But forecast is more rain,” she said.
“So chookas to me, chookas to you. I’m a celebrity, get me out of here!
“Hopefully I’ll be arriving in Sydney on my flight on Friday … slim chance.”
Burning Man organisers working to open roads to festivalgoers
Organisers even postponed the festival’s famous burning of a large wooden effigy due to the rain.
They were also working to allow more people to get out by road by late Monday or Tuesday if weather conditions improved.
Local police also confirmed that one person had tragically died during the “rain event”, without giving further details.
Meanwhile, DJ Diplo also posted a video to Instagram on Saturday night showing a fan giving him and comedian Chris Rock a ride in the back of his truck.
He said they had walked nearly 10 kilometres through mud while hitchhiking.
“I legit walked the side of the road for hours with my thumb out,” Diplo said.
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