Burning Man Gate Closed Due To Rain Until Tuesday

UPDATE: 1 P.M. Burning Man Gates Closed Until Tuesday Due To Rain

Organizers of the largest event on public land announced Monday afternoon that the gate to Burning Man has been shut down due to rain. 

Burning Man is expected to reopen Tuesday. 

Tweets from the organization say the playa is "un-drivable" and that cars are being asked to turn around.

BRC is closed until midday Tuesday due to rain and standing water. Playa is un-drivable. Law enforcement is turning cars back.

— Burning Man (@burningman) August 25, 2014

BRC is closed thru tonight & possibly into tomorrow a.m. Cars being turned back @ Wadsworth. Cars also being turned around @ event entrance.

— Burning Man (@burningman) August 25, 2014

If you’re in Reno, please stay there until we let you know the Gate has reopened.

— Burning Man (@burningman) August 25, 2014

Rain continuing. Please do not come to Burning Man until you hear otherwise from official channels.

— Burning Man Traffic (@bmantraffic) August 25, 2014

-Capital Public Radio Staff

9 A.M. Attendance, Number Of Cars Limited During This Year's Burning Man

Nearly 70,000 people are headed to the Nevada desert for the annual Burning Man festival, the largest event of its kind in the United States. 

The gates are open Monday morning for the largest event on public land in the United States - "Burning Man." Meanwhile, event organizers are on notice that attendance cannot exceed the limits of 68,000 people. 

One hundred miles north of Reno, a stark-white, flat, dry lake-bed has been transformed into a sprawling crescent-shaped city of big art, tents and RVs for just a week.

It’s the largest festival on government property in the US and the largest “leave-no-trace” event. That means the area must be left as clean as it was before the festival started.

There are just as many art installations this year as last, but the Burning Man organization is on probation for having allowed nearly 2,000 more people last year than were permitted. If that happens again this year, Bureau of Land Management District Manager, Gene Seidlitz says he could suspend or cancel the event, and organizers know it. 

“I would say that they are very keenly aware and situationally prepared to ensure that won’t happen,” says Seidlitz. 

This year, for the first time, BLM staff is at the entrance to help count people. Other firsts this year, organizers are limiting the number of cars and have issued rules for use of remote-controlled aircraft.