More than 70,000 Burning Man fun-seekers have been told to shelter in place and conserve food and water after a rainstorm turned the Nevada Desert site to mud.

Access to and from Black Rock City, the event’s site, was closed “for the remainder of the event,” organisers said in a statement on social media.

“Rain over the last 24 hours has created a situation that required a full stop of vehicle movement on the playa,” the US Bureau of Land Management, said in a statement on Sunday (local time).

“More rain is expected over the next few days and conditions are not expected to improve enough to allow vehicles to enter the playa,”

Some attendees are leaving the site on foot and trekking to the nearest highway.

More than 60,000 participants travel to and from the remote area in northwest Nevada every year, according to the event’s website, gathering in the temporary city to make art, dance, and enjoy community.

Local media reported there were more than 70,000 “burners” in Black Rock City.

The festival gets its name from its culminating event, the burning of a large wooden structure called the Man on the penultimate night.

The gathering, which originated as a small function in 1986 on a San Francisco beach and is now also attended by celebrities and social media influencers, was scheduled to run until September 4.

-AAP