Burning Man: ‘We’re Irish, we’re used to a festival wash-out,’ says Laois man stranded with family

A Co Laois man who is at the Burning Man festival in the northern Nevada desert, where heavy rain left campsites and roads impassable with thick mud, has said people remain in “great spirits” despite the conditions.

Brendon Deacy, (58) a lecturer at National College of Art and Design, undertook the trip to the countercultural festival with his four adult children.

Heavy rains over the weekend saw roads in and out of the festival become temporarily impassable, with attendees advised to conserve water and other supplies, and remain sheltered.

The annual gathering in the Black Rock Desert about 170km north of Reno attracts nearly 80,000 people, and is popular among artists, musicians, tech workers and activists.

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Mr Deacy said the rain mixing with the dust in the area turned the ground to “cement” like mud that was difficult to walk through.

“If you try to step out in shoes they’d just get stuck. We were walking around in bare feet and socks, it was the only way,” he told The Irish Times on Monday.

Before the rain people attending the festival had been doing “great”, despite the heat and occasional dust storm, he said.

Closer to the weekend people began to talk about the threat of “really serious rain” and make contingency plans, he said.

Mr Deacy said he did not think too much about it at the time. “I’ve been to Electric Picnic and survived heavy rainfall,” he said.

“The rain started and didn’t stop, it was just remarkable… Even the seasoned ‘Burners’ said they’d never seen anything like it,” he said.

During the rain and muddy conditions people’s spirits remained high, he said. “The camaraderie that was around was remarkable,” he said.

He had come to the festival prepared for the “hostile” desert conditions and packed items for the heat and dust.

However, rain gear was not on his list of items he expected he would need. “Nobody thought of bringing Wellingtons,” he said.

[ Tens of thousands remain stranded by floods at Burning Man festival site ]

Mr Deacy said he might have been worried if he was alone, but others in their campsite had been incredibly resourceful and helpful. “We’re Irish, we’re used to the rain, we’re used to a festival washout,” he said.

His adult son had been able to walk out of the grounds to a shuttle bus to get to Reno, he said.

The rest of the group were waiting until the mucky roads dried, so they could drive out of the festival in the campervan they had been staying in. Looking on the bright side, he said, the “adventure” had shown him “there’s life in the old dog yet”.

Chances of evacuation improved on Monday as better weather conditions have given the Black Rock Desert a chance to dry out from the torrential rains.

In an update on Monday, organisers said the single road out of the Black Rock City site remained “too wet and muddy”, though added it was drying and “exodus” was likely to begin from noon (8pm Irish time) on Monday.