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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Andrea Blanco,Alisha Rahaman Sarkar,Ariana Baio and Kelly Rissman

Burning Man 2023 news: Attendees make mass exodus after heavy rain and flooding stranded thousands

REUTERS

Burning Man festival-goer shows grim conditions after flooding chaos

More chaos has unfolded at the Burning Man festival as revellers clashed during the exodus from the Nevada desert.

Attendees finally began leaving the city at Black Rock City on Monday afternoon after severe flooding and muddy conditions left thousands stranded over the weekend.

During the mass exodus, Pershing County Sheriff Jerry Allen said that attendees “lashed out” at each other as they waited in long queues to leave the desert.

“As usually happens in what Burners refer to as the ‘default world’ people allow their emotions to override their reasonableness and they are lashing out at each other as they leave the playa,” he told the San Francisco Chronicle.

The wait time to leave the playa is estimated to 3.5 hours, according to a social media account associated with the festival.

Meanwhile, the man who died during the festival was identified as 32-year-old Leon Reece. The exact cause and manner of Reece’s death are still pending but the Washoe County Medical Examiner’s Office said in a statement on Tuesday that drug intoxication was suspected.

The officials also debunked a conspiracy theory that the festival was hit with an Ebola outbreak.

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