Residents stocking up on storm supplies

BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) - People who have been putting off that trip to the store to stock up on storm supplies were taking care of business on Friday night.

It is a sure sign something is churning near the coast. It is a mad dash to the store to make sure you have got everything you need to get through the worst-case scenario. For Dan and Shannon Graves, that means rolling out a brand-new generator.

"The other one wouldn't start and I'm not going to get caught without air conditioning. It's as simple as that," Shannon Graves said.

"Taking my wife's advice," Dan Graves said.

Home Depot Manager Chad Farwell says he has done a lot of heavy lifting in his store ahead of Tropical Storm Lee.

"We have seen some lift and have sold a lot of generators," Chad Farwell said.

Home Depot employees have set up what they call a "Hurricane Center" at the front of the store to make shopping a breeze for their customers. Farwell says it has been set up for a month, but it has seen a lot of visitors in the last couple of days, looking for generators, gas cans, tarp, flashlights and of course, the almost always necessary batteries.

"I know the storm's gonna be sticking around for a couple of days. I might have enough batteries. But I'm buying more, just in case," Sarko Moutafian said.

At Matherne's Grocery Store, there are shelves and aisles full of bottled water. But a lot of shoppers say they only have one thing on their minds, LSU football and the proper supplies to make sure their parties do not get rained out.

"We have batteries, water, canned goods and a generator. It's our life saver," Liz Hoffman said.

Does not matter which "Lee" they are watching this weekend, these shoppers say they are prepared.

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