You may remember that attendees at this year’s Burning Man festival had a hard time getting there thanks to some climate activists who spent about an hour blocking the only road in to the site. Nevada’s tribal police put a swift stop to that once they arrived. But it seems this year’s festival just isn’t gong well. Rain has turned the area into a muddy mess and people are being told not to attempt to drive anywhere.

More than 73,000 Burning Man attendees remain confined to their camps Saturday and are blocked from leaving the event after a slow-moving rainstorm turned their desert playground into a soupy, muddy morass.Organizers banned vehicle traffic from the roads Friday afternoon and kept the exit gates closed as of 5 a.m. Saturday. Even walking was treacherous as thick, slimy mud clung to shoes and anything else it touched.Organizers warned attendees to conserve their food and water, indicating the closures could be lengthy.Dawn revealed puddled water and ruts in the streets, which are just delineated routes along the ordinarily rock-hard desert floor. More rain was expected through Sunday, along with whiteouts, event organizers said.

“No driving is permitted on playa except for emergency vehicles,” event organizers said in a 5 a.m. statement. “If you are in (Black Rock City), please shelter in place and stay safe.”They added separately: “If you are in BRC, conserve food and water, shelter in a warm space.”The road closures appeared to have forced a halt to cleaning and servicing of the thousands of port-a-potties used by attendees who spent Friday night huddled in muddy tents and RVs as the temperature dropped into the low 50s.

So the porta-potties are backing up and 70,000 people are running out of food and water. How long before attendees embrace cannibalism? A first time attendee told CNN the mud was everywhere:

Hannah Burhorn, a first-time attendee at the festival, told CNN in a phone interview Saturday she and her friends were not expecting any rain – only extreme heat.

The sand on the desert has formed into thick clay, Burhorn said, and puddles and mud are everywhere.

“It’s unavoidable at this point,” she said. “It’s in the bed of the truck, inside the truck. People who have tried to bike through it and have gotten stuck because it’s about ankle deep.”

People are wrapping trash bags and Ziploc bags around their shoes to avoid getting stuck, while others are going barefoot, Burhorn said. The mud is so thick that it “sticks to your shoes and makes it almost like a boot around your boot,” making it even more difficult to move around, she added.

Here’s what it looks like:

In case anyone was wondering how burning man is going it rained all day and now everything looks like this lol pic.twitter.com/ALhF63PWTC

— Sol (@sol_flac) September 2, 2023

Best Wetting Man ever. No one is getting in or out of here anytime soon. #burningman #BurningMan2023 pic.twitter.com/VLsglmXaYF

— Eddie Codel (@ekai) September 2, 2023

Water Man 2023. Burning man got rained out….. we’re all stuck here. Let’s pray it stops raining #BurningMan2023 #playalake #bm23 pic.twitter.com/xWHhfgXmYv

— Robbie Page (@robbie_page) September 2, 2023

Doesn’t this look like fun?

Burning Man 2023 is now declared a national emergency by the US government as over 73,000 campers are stranded, sheltering in place in their campsites at event 😯

We hope everyone makes it out safe 🙏🏼🙏🏼 pic.twitter.com/x4BB3iqt78

— edmtrain (@edmtrainapp) September 2, 2023

It’s supposed to rain again tonight so things probably won’t be getting better tomorrow. People who are there may be trapped until Monday or Tuesday when things finally dry out enough for cars to drive on the mud.

Update: This looks like something from Mad Max: Fury Road.

Dust devil whirlwinds spawning at the burning man festival 👀 pic.twitter.com/IQTW3EXpKM

— HumanDilemma (@HumanDilemma_) September 2, 2023