Shoppers Crowd Local Stores as Irene Approaches

When meteorologists began forecasting Hurricane Irene would hit Maryland, droves of local residents flooded the parking lots of local  retailers to replenish their emergency preparedness kits.

On Friday shoppers flocked to the Golden Ring Plaza Shopping Center and poured into Sam's Club, Walmart and Home Depot to stock up on such necessary items as batteries, water and first aid kits.

Sam's Club was well stocked with emergency items even though almost every member left with at least one case of bottled water.

“We have extra trucks and orders coming in today and tomorrow to make sure that we have all the supplies our members need to stay safe,” said Courtney Wordlaw, assistant manager at Sam's Club. “Personally, I have stocked up on all the emergency items yesterday.”

The Walmart next to Sam's Club wasn't quite as ready for the influx of shoppers as employees were hustling to stock the shelves with gallon jugs of water and no cases of bottled water remained. The store was also bereft of any D or C sized batteries.

“We came here today to get all the extra things we might need if we are out of power,” said Tiarra Mcglotton, a CCBC Essex student who lives in Hamilton. “We found most of what we needed. We are prepared to wait out the storm.”

Across the parking lot at the Home Depot, shoppers looking for generators were disappointed as the store was sold out, although there was an expected delivery on Saturday. The Home Depot was also stocked up on batteries and bottled water as well as plywood for property owners hoping to board up their windows.

Aldi, the discount grocery store in the same shopping center, had plenty of food to satisfy the hungry shoppers looking for staples such as milk, eggs and cheese, but the two lines open had more than 20 people waiting in each.

“Its been crazy like this all day,” one store employee said. “It's worse than a snowstorm.”

located on Back River Neck Road in Essex, was also crowded.

“I learned from Isabel," said Ricky Janson, referring to the 2003 tropical storm that ravaged much of eastern Baltimore County. "I'm going to tie everything down—some with bungee cords like my trash cans—and other stuff will require heavy duty rope.”

Joey Thoomus, also of Essex, was at B&T looking for supplies to board up his windows.

“I've got some plywood left over from remodeling the basement," he said. "I figured it'll cover the two front windows. All I need are the right kind of screws to install it.”

Another Essex resident, Ralph Sammons was busy asking for details on sump pumps.

“My pump is more than 15 years old," he said. "I worried it would burn up during Isabel. It's been working overtime this month with all the rain and I've had some problems with it. Now might be the best time to replace it before the basement floods.”