LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Tens of thousands who attended Burning Man have made their way out of the Black Rock Desert in northern Nevada after intense rain over the Labor Day weekend flooded "The Playa."
The water and knee-deep mud stranded more than 70,000 people, including a Las Vegas woman I spoke to Thursday.
She says at one point she wasn't sure if she was going to make it out.
"The first time in the History of Burning Man, they didn't do the main thing, they didn't burn the man."
It's the big event Las Vegas resident Julia Bogdan says festival attendees look forward to the Saturday night before Labor Day.
I asked her, "Something unexpected happened, can you please explain what was that?"
BOGDAN: "It was great flood, a great flood at burning man."
She was one of the more than 70,000 Burning Man attendees, saying it was her first time and she never thought people at this huge party in the Black Rock desert would have to shelter in place due to intense rains.
"It was raining for three days, not all the time but on and off," she told me.
Bogdan says the normally hard ground attendees ride their bikes on became a mud pit, making it impossible for anyone to get in or out of the playa.
That meant the porta potties couldn't get emptied, with some nearly filled to the top.
Tents and campsites were also flooded.
"When the rain goes on, the surface turns into mud its a clay muddy, very sticky substance"
Bogdan says they had to improvise, wrapping trash bags around their shoes and taping them to their ankles.
"That was the burning man style this year," she joked.
Once the rain calmed down and the mud dried up, she says the stay in place order was lifted and the Man was finally set on fire on Monday and burners could leave.
"What was your experience getting out of the desert?," I asked.
The exodus is a usual thing, there was nothing new about the exodus, in fact people have spent 12 hours in exodus," she told me.
Bogdan says she spent about three hours trying to get out and finally arrived home to Las Vegas Tuesday night.
She says it was an experience she will never forget and one that mother nature played a significant role in.
I did reach out to the organizers of Burning Man to see how the weather may play a factor into their planning for next year, but at this time we have not heard back.
