The Downlow on Hurricane Parties
Okay *presses hands together*I’ve been seeing a shit ton of posts about these and no actual explanations about How Living In a Hurricane Zone actually fucking works. Like - socially.
Reciepts: I was made homeless by 2 hurricanes in my life - once at 8 and again at 17. I have also ridden out more hurricanes than I can remember. I grew up in Hurricane Alley in florida and I have a tshirt from my senior year that says I Survived Hurricane High School because our senior year was so fucked by Hurricane Ivan no less than a 1/3rd of the student body was displaced. Aside from my parents divorce it’s probably the single most impactful thing to ever happen to me.
So let me explain a thing to those of you who don’t have hurricanes.
There’s a few types of hurricanes that make landfall on the continental US. There are REALLY BAD hurricanes - like Katrina and Harvey. Those are the ones where all you can do is Fucking Run.
But then? There’s the Less Bad Hurricanes.Those are insanely windy and full of rain and trees come down and shit gets bad but like…mostly, you get through it by hunkering down - boarding up the windows with plywood or specially made hurricane shutters(actually a thing, we had them on my house) bring in everything you have outside your house and plying it up in your living room and then just waiting shit out. Wild right?
If you live in Hurricane Alley, you realize, hey, for a Less Bad Hurricane, higher ground is all I really need. That is still an evacuation, it’s just not a Fucking Run full evacuation. When you evacuate to higher ground you almost always end up at Someone’s House and often, whoever’s place you end up at is putting up 2+families and so are other people in that area because that’s the Higher Ground.
Here’s what’s happens. The whole goddamn town shuts down. This is one of the few times capitalism comes to a grinding halt (unless you work at Waffle House. That motherfucker stays open until you pass Cat3 because they’re more intrepid than any fucking US Marine) and the whole town shuts down. There’s power - until there isn’t. There’s water - until there isn’t.
There’s just you and the people you’re trapped in a house with for hours if not days.
What you end up with is a lot of people in one place, sharing their supplies of water and food because they have to - gathered in the ONE place that might have a generator - WHICH YOU CANNOT RUN ALL THE TIME ANYWAY, DON’T LISTEN TO ANYONE WHO TELLS YOU DIFFERENTLY - when the weather is wet and also 90+ degrees, because you gotta remember this only happens in the summer. Schools are closed so a lot of the time, people are trapped in small places with their kids who dont know each other that well and cannot go outside and play which is a nightmare because did I mention the electricity is down? Yeah, this is literally the start of a fucking horror movie.
Because on top of that, after a certain point, the sun is going to go down. You may have candles but not THAT many and you wanna save them so you can’t read.
And what are you going to do with that time? Seriously, what? Fam you gotta TALK to each other to pass the time.
Plus? All the adults are fucking stressed out. Aside from the host, no one is in their own home and they’re scared. They might pretend they’re not but they are. They may not be scared for they’re life but they’re afraid for their property and their friends who didn’t come with them and they’re afraid for what’s going to happen when that motherfucker makes landfall and and and.
You know what makes that experience easier (on the adults at least)? Alcohol (and weed if you’re in Florida where that shit is legal) and revelry and generally being playful, letting the kids play too, maybe getting a brightly colored cake that makes the whole experience less terrifying.
And lo, hurricane parties.
So yeah. That’s what’s going on with hurricanes.
That’s whats going to keep going on with hurricanes as the climate crisis continues.
And if you try and guilt and shame people out of their coping mechanisms and survival tactics that scientists and survival experts have proven work (seriously, I went to a panel on how to survive an apocalypse and the first advice they gave was Throw A Party) then you’re just wrong. Stop harshing people and start being supportive. Things are only going to get worse as we move forward and trust me when I tell you, a good hurricane party can save sanity and lives.
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