Weinberg sophomore Jessica Wash put on a purple T-shirt Saturday and stood on the bleachers at Welsh-Ryan Arena with crowds of other Northwestern football fans. She jingled her keys and made the Wildcat call.

But worries about her family living near Port Arthur, Texas – an area hit by Category 3 Hurricane Rita last weekend – tempered her enthusiasm, she said.

“I felt like I shouldn’t have been there,” Wash said. “I felt like I should have been on the phone all day.”

Students and faculty who knew people affected by Rita were on campus when the hurricane hit the Gulf Coast. Their distance from the disaster left them worrying about the whereabouts and safety of their families, they said.

When Katrina struck almost a month ago, many students were at home and witnessed the destruction firsthand.

Wash feared for her grandparents, cousins and aunt, who underwent mandatory evacuations, she said. She wasn’t able to confirm everyone’s safety until Sunday.

“I was replaying so many potential scenarios in my head, not knowing which one was going to come true,” she said. “It was overwhelming.”

Winds rocked the trailer where Wash’s grandfather and step-grandmother stayed after evacuating 40 miles to the north Thursday, she said.

“They said they could feel the whole thing shaking,” she said. “No one really slept that night.”

Wash’s cousin is newly married and has a 1-year-old. Wash said she worried the new family wouldn’t pull through the storm.

The feeling of powerlessness made Music freshman Sam Rettew anxious about his family in Houston, he said. His family dealt with harsher storms while living in New Orleans, but this time he could only track Rita’s path, he said.

“The most disconcerting feeling is that you really can’t do anything,” he said.

Rettew said he played his bassoon and relied upon his friends to alleviate his worries.

“I just kept my cell phone on and prayed that everything would turn out all right, which fortunately it did,” he added.

Rettew’s family accommodated his grandmother and one of her friends, as well as an elderly couple evacuated from New Orleans, he said. Caring for all of them was taxing for his mother, he said. One of the elderly men had about 22 different medical prescriptions, and Rettew’s family had to stock up on the medication before the storm hit, Rettew said. The man was also diabetic, and his insulin had to be kept cool in an ice chest in case power failed.

Sociology Prof. Nicola Beisel ended her Gender and Society course 15 minutes early on Thursday because she was too worried about her Houston-based family to concentrate, she said. She immediately tried to check on them.

She feared that her elderly parents had evacuated, had gotten stuck on a highway and had gotten heat stroke, she said.

“They’re complete weather wimps,” Beisel said.

Her parents didn’t end up leaving because Rita changed directions, she said. They were both unharmed.

“They can’t stand heat, they can’t stand cold, but they can withstand hurricanes, it seems,” she said.

Being so far away from her loved ones during Rita was perplexing, Wash said.

“You start to wonder, ‘Why is it happening to the rest of my family and not to me?'” Wash said.

Reach Lauren Pond at [email protected].