Hurricane Irma鈥檚 record-breaking fury and uncertain track is sending an unprecedented number of Floridians to grocery stores and gas stations, according to the Florida Retail Federation.
Federation spokesman James Miller says shoppers are becoming aware of Irma鈥檚 180 mile-per-hour punch before forecasters can predict landfall with any certainty.
The result, Miller says, is gasoline and bottled water shortages from Pensacola to Key West.
鈥淲e know that a Sam鈥檚 Club here in Tallahassee got huge shipments of water at 7 a.m. this morning, and from what we understand, they were gone shortly thereafter. So the shipments continue to come in. You鈥檝e just got to be patient.鈥�
Shortly before lunch on Wednesday, the bottled water aisle at a Tallahassee Publix was stripped bare.
Jason Sell, a 27-year-old IT security manager for a state agency, was disappointed but not surprised.
鈥淵eah, I sorted of expected that because there鈥檚 been a lot of chatter at work about where things are and where things are not, so I sort of expected that. But, I鈥檒l keep looking.鈥�
Miller says Florida retailers have disaster plans and supplies continue to roll into the state. He urges shoppers to be patient a nd check delivery schedules.
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