Stores say resupplies will continue as long as possible

Retailers said they plan to keep resupplying their shelves as long as possible for residents who haven’t yet completed their Hurricane Irma preparations.

But knowing when delivery trucks are hitting which stores will prove challenging, and several large retailers said consumers should call or visit stores to see if vital supplies have arrived.

A Walmart spokesman said the company has activated its emergency operations center at its Fayetteville, Ark., headquarters and is monitoring needs at specific stores in Florida. “It’s a unique process,” said Ragan Dickens, Walmart’s director of national media relations. “We have all hands on deck.”

Dickens said 800 trucks from across the country are filled with water and headed to Florida Walmart and Sam’s Clubs locations. “Depending on the size of bottles in the case, we can have anywhere from 1,080 cases to 1,596 cases on a truck,” he said.

The company plans to post news of those trucks’ arrivals via its Twitter accounts, @Walmart, @WalmartNewsroom, and on stores’ individual Facebook accounts, Dickens said. “That’s the hope — that we’ll be able to know when those do arrive,” he said.

But shoppers at South Florida Publix stores are advised to show up and see what’s in stock, spokeswoman Maria Brous said. “It’s hard to tell them to call their [local] store because when they get to the stores, what they’re looking for might be gone,” she said.

Items such as canned soup and spaghetti, tuna and breads have been selling briskly, while cases of water have been selling out soon after they arrive, Brous said. “Customers are waiting to purchase them.”

At this point, finding key supplies will require a bit of luck. Bottled water is in particularly high demand, and the chain’s warehouse and distribution centers are working around the clock to produce more bottled water to distribute before the storm, she said. Stores will continue to get deliveries at least once a day and sometimes more

LEILA MACOR/AFP/GETTY IMAGES Empty water shelves such as these in a Miami Beach supermarket have quickly become a familiar sight in South Florida. Retailers say more essential supplies are on the way.