You’re probably aware that Governor Haley issued an evacuation for the lower parts of the state of South Carolina in the face of the oncoming Hurricane Matthew.
What you may not be aware of is how people are reacting to the evacuation on social media.
Most people are posting the “expected” reactions to the oncoming storm — “stay safe,” “prayers needed,” “everyone be careful out there,” and other “normal” reactions to a category 4 natural disaster.
Two, however, may come to you as a surprise.
First: annoyance at having to evacuate.
These posts seemed to either take umbrage at Hurricane Matthew for daring to disrupt their daily life or express contempt at the need for evacuation. These folks seem to be feeling bullet proof (although rainproof might come in more handy).
I’ll edit some of these responses for the more sensitive types…these posters tended to use colorful language. Here are a few of the more family-friendly ones:
https://twitter.com/katmthompson/status/783723916032372736
https://twitter.com/Bougie_Bre/status/783777637340631040
This evacuation route is more dangerous than the hurricane at this point. People in the Carolinas already can't drive.
— Muva Mila👩👧👧 (@MilaTheKilla) October 5, 2016
One asked (with four-letter emphasis) why everyone was “freaking out.”
Ok, so I didn’t censor them ALL:
https://twitter.com/teresaIisbon/status/783715759075815424
Dammit man. I'm in an 'evacuation zone' for this damn hurricane
— Late Stage Capitalism Barbie (@zuri_too) October 5, 2016
These you needed to see as-is, especially for the quotation marks around “evacuation zone.”
Second thing you may not have heard of before: “hurricane parties.”
According to Wikipedia, a “hurricane party” is a gathering, common in the southeast, where folks hunker down together, often for days at a time.
The Urban Dictionary, however, had a different definition (something to do with alcohol, it seems).
These particular Tweets seem to support the traditional “turn-up” sort of idea about hurricane parties (as opposed to the backyard grill version Wikipedia seems to favor).
https://twitter.com/BTW_LOL/status/783769991778824193
https://twitter.com/Its_LilLiz/status/783780513773391873
As the definition varies, so do peoples’ opinions of it on Twitter.
In the words of Twitter user @HoldemanCody, “Hurricane party…[F***] the evacuation” (Tweet from October 5, 4:05 pm, edited).
I'm being told the best thing to do during a hurricane is to have a hurricane party 🎉🌊🌪
— Shannon (@ShannonPaige19) October 5, 2016
https://twitter.com/abby_cook4/status/783763699056214016
https://twitter.com/ravenmarieo/status/783706464363905024
Not excited about this new updated storm tracker projection. Definitely enjoyed Hurricane parties at Blondies in my 20s. Now, not so much.
— Tony Mejia (@MejiaDinero) October 5, 2016
To the idiots that keep saying they're having a "hurricane party" is it that hard 2 comprehend that this storm is producing 140 mph winds.
— Laura Williams (@lawilliams0822) October 5, 2016
florida is getting a category 4 hurricane and residents are only worried about who's having the hurricane party
— Nicole Marconi (@nmarconii) October 5, 2016
As far as I can tell, hurricane parties are a fairly recent phenomenon, but don’t quote me on that one.
If you haven’t seen this sort of reaction to a hurricane before, now you have. As social media tends to be filled with millennials (ah, the joys of youth) it might be safe to suggest that these un-conventional views on what to do during a weather emergency are limited to a certain age bracket. Now that we have social media, everyone has a platform to let their opinions be known, especially in the face of an impending disaster. As the storm moves in, it will be interesting to see if and how these same posters continue to post.
