While some people boarded up their windows and evacuated before Gustav’s wrath last fall, some students rode out the storm in Baton Rouge, inviting anyone around to hurricane parties with no power, no water and a whole bunch of beer.Mary Lou Kelley, psychology professor, said hurricane parties can act as a coping mechanism and social support system for people amid the potential danger of a hurricane.”[People] are powerless in a sense [when it comes to hurricanes],” Kelley said. “[A hurricane] is somewhat of a random event. People use [hurricane] parties to distract themselves and reduce their anxiety.”Kelley said substance abuse increases when natural disasters pull people out of their routines.Jason Collins, biology junior, attended a hurricane party after Gustav tore through Baton Rouge, leaving a breadcrumb trail of fallen trees and tangled power lines.”Hurricanes are a major event, and [students] might as well have some fun and get their minds off the bad stuff,” Collins said.Collins said 15 to 20 people attended the hurricane party in Southgate Towers. He said police did not break up this party, but other parties his friends had were raided once the curfew was implemented. Collins said he never felt unsafe partying during Gustav. He said no students at the party he attended were out of control. Students are encouraged to follow public advisories issued by the Emergency Operations Center during hurricanes, University spokesman Herb Vincent said in an e-mail to The Daily Reveille.Vincent said choosing to stay in the path of the storm and party instead of following evacuation advisories is a bad idea.The front-end manager at the Winn-Dixie on Burbank Drive said her store always sees an increase in alcohol sales when a hurricane approaches. She said people of all ages contibute to this increase. While some students who rode out the storm with parties in Baton Rouge, Brittany Maywalt and her friends threw their own hurricane party far from Gustav’s grasp.”There was a mandatory evacuation from the Kappa house,” said Maywalt, mass communication junior. “We wanted to go on a road trip. It was either go with our parents to Destin or go with our friends.”Maywalt and her friends first travelled 11 hours to the University of South Carolina and College of Charleston. Maywalt flew to Colorado College when another hurricane threatened South Carolina.”We went to South Carolina because we have friends who go to school there,” Maywalt said. “We went to Charleston just to see it. I made my friends throw a hurricane party. It was like a fun pregame, and then we went out.”Maywalt said 30 or 40 people came to their hurricane party and she and her friends partied almost every night of their travels.”You get drunk, then you’re hung over and laughing about the night and not thinking about what’s going on in Baton Rouge,” she said. “You’re always doing something to keep yourself entertained.”Kelley received a grant of $378,000 from the National Institute of Mental Health shortly after Hurricane Katrina to study the psychological impact of hurricanes on Louisiana youth.Now, the Department of Homeland Security will fund her research for the next five years. She said she will be conducting focus groups with college students who experienced Hurricane Katrina.”When I taught during Katrina … the students had all their family members living with them,” Kelley said. “They lost their homes. Their lives were disrupted. It did affect their being able to focus on just being a student … It was disruptive … when you start having to worry about your parents and not yourself.”Kelley said the focus groups will look at resiliency of adults, adolescents and college students. She wants to research what helped people overcome the devastating effects of hurricanes Katrina and Rita and continue her research on the psychological damage brought by hurricanes.”In general, for children and adults … the amount of psychological symptoms is based on the threat of the hurricane to that person, their loss and the destruction,” Kelley said. “The more exposure, the greater chance you’ll have psychological symptoms. Most people get better in a short period of time.”Kelley said women usually have more symptoms than men, but men have more substance abuse after a disaster.”If people are having beers together … it’s used as a coping technique,” she said. “It’s better to use other coping mechanisms.”Maywalt said she partied during Gustav as a way to get support during the hurricane. And she plans to evacuate to other universities again if another hurricane heads toward Baton Rouge.”It’s another reason to throw a party,” Maywalt said.
 
 
 
—-Contact Mary Walker Baus at [email protected]