Some still rushing to get hurricane supplies
HARLINGEN — Light crowds, the remnants of a buying frenzy that started Tuesday, still moved through the aisles at local retailers on Wednesday, making last-minute preparations for Hurricane Alex, whose effects could be felt by early that morning.
Generators and gas tanks piled atop lumber carts lined the front of the Home Depot store as a few families scampered through a sparsely populated parking lot.
Raymondville resident Angel Soria pulled his SUV right up to the front door to escape heavy rain outside the store. He watched as store employees loaded a 5,000-watt generator into the back of his vehicle.
“When I called yesterday they were waiting for a load to come in,” he said, explaining why he had waited until the last minute to buy his generator. “I thought I’d come by today to see if they were here.”
Home Depot Manager Lee Roy Sanchez said even though business had slowed from Tuesday’s pre-storm rush, consumers and contractors on Wednesday were still coming to the store for big-ticket items.
“(They’re buying) generators, tarps, roof supplies and stuff like that,” he said. “It was a lot busier yesterday, especially with all the rain. People don’t want to be out traveling on the roads.
“We had some contractors come in earlier,” he said. “They’re doing work orders for last-minute customers. They’re taking a lot of wood and a lot of sand. We’re selling a lot of sand.”
Across town at H.E.B. supermarket on Commerce Street, cars circled the parking lot for parking spaces near the door as rain fell in sheets. Lines at the cash registers inside the store Wednesday were significantly shorter than on Tuesday.
Eba De La Rosa, a Combes resident, filled her cart with gallon jugs of water and other non-perishable items. She said she waited until Wednesday to make these purchases because Wednesday was payday for her and she couldn’t afford to shop any sooner.
“At least we could cash our checks,” she said. “We’re going to have to put gas (in our cars) and everything. We’re going to do it all here at H.E.B., I guess.”
“Thank God they paid us and that we could cash the checks too,” she said.
William Valdez, an electrical and air conditioning technician said Wednesday that he waited to load up on supplies because he had to work in Laredo and didn’t have time to shop sooner.
He said he put eight 5-gallon gas tanks in a storage facility along with other supplies and said his family would go to San Antonio or Laredo if necessary.
“I got my kids clothes ready in case we have to evacuate,” he said.
As of 2 p.m., all three H.E.B. sites in Harlingen were planning to stay open for normal business hours, 6 a.m. until midnight on Morgan Boulevard and Commerce Street and until 1 a.m. on Expressway 77/83.
Home Depot employees were told they would be closing at 7 p.m., but no official plan was in place by 2 p.m., an employee said. He did not know what the store’s hours would be today.
Lowe’s closed its doors at 2 p.m. Wednesday, an employee said. The store instructed employees to stay on call because the store had not decided when it would open today.
