Burning Man Was Like 'Lord of the Flies'

Roughly 70,000 people attending the Burning Man festival remain stranded in a Nevada desert on Sunday due to flooding, with one festivalgoer comparing conditions to the book Lord of the Flies.

Tens of thousands of people flock to the Black Rock Desert each year for Burning Man to dance, make art and witness the burning of a massive wooden effigy known as the Man, according to the event's website.

But this year's festival was hampered after strong storms caused significant flooding in the desert, preventing people from driving into or out of Black Rock City, the temporary city built each year that is home to the festival. Organizers on Saturday urged attendees to shelter in place as well as conserve food and energy. As more storms were anticipated to strike the festival Sunday evening, it remained unknown when participants would be able to safely leave the event. So far, at least one individual has died amid the flooding.

Burning Man wrote in an update posted to their website Sunday morning that roads "remain too wet and muddy to officially open them for Exodus," the name given to the festival's closure, urging attendees to not drive at this point. However, organizers said they still plan to burn "the Man" at 9:30 p.m. tonight, weather permitting.

Newsweek reached out to Burning Man for comment via email.

Meanwhile, many attendees took to social media to share their experiences while stranded at the festival. One festivalgoer named Christine Lee posted a video to her Instagram story and described Lord of the Flies-like conditions.

"In some ways, it's been fun and some ways it's been scary. The ways it's been scary, a lot of people that are in tents and in yurts are completely flooded. A lot of people have run out of food and water, and some people are stealing things, because that's what happens when things get weird. There's a little bit of this Lord of the Flies vibe, if you remember that book, where things might just get really weird. So we're OK today, but I think it might get worse," she said.

Still, Lee said most festivalgoers remained in "high spirits."

"There's music playing," she added. "People are dancing."

Neal Katyal, an attorney and former U.S. acting solicitor general, wrote on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, about his experience leaving the festival.

"It was an incredibly harrowing 6 mile hike at midnight through heavy and slippery mud, but I got safely out of Burning Man. Never been before and it was fantastic (with brilliant art and fabulous music)...except the ending," he wrote Sunday.

Another festivalgoer named Angie Peacock shared in a TikTok video that she and other attendees woke up to floods on Saturday morning and that her camp was told to no longer take showers to conserve water. She added that there was a lighter mood throughout the day.

"In the Burning Man spirit, everybody's making do or making the most out of it. We're still having a good time, the way we all should," she said.