A display of hurricane preparedness items at the Berlin Home Depot. (Photo: WBOC)This fact sheet provides a list of emergency equipment and supplies that one should have on hand in the event of a hurricane.More This fact sheet provides a list of emergency equipment and supplies that one should have on hand in the event of a hurricane. Also provided are practical tips for planning for the event of a hurricane as well as what to do during and after the storm.More
WORCESTER COUNTY, Md.- It is the calm before the storm as Neil O' Callaghan explained how it had been anything but calm at the Home Depot in Berlin on Thursday ahead of Hurricane Sandy.
"It's been a very active morning," O'Callaghan said. "We have moved a lot of storm preparation products and the crew was early in this morning."
On the other side in Pocomoke City, assistant store manager Paul Renshaw of Lowe's Home Improvement said that power generators were the hottest items selling all day.
"With generators they would need gas cans as well and some of them come in for tarps, sump pump and flashlights," he said.
Flashlights were just one of the things on John and Elizabeth Johnson's hurricane preparedness list.
"A generator," Johnson said. "Our biggest goal is not to lose all the food that will be out in the freezer. If it was only going to be off for two or three hours then we would not be concerned but we are talking five or six days possibly, so therefore you have to plan for that."
"We do have a storm team that is made up of employees," Renshaw said. "And they can even come from other stores too and they would be able to come in and help us relieve our employees and serve our customers if this store was overwhelmed with that."
Both of the hardware stores said that people were also buying plenty of plywood that is used to cover up windows.
The one thing each of them suggest is to stock up on as much water as possible.
