Region stocks up and prepares for the worst
Anxious buyers home in on gas, torches, lights
PEOPLE COME IN LOOKING FOR BREAD, PLENTY OF BAGS OF ICE, WATER, BATTERIES, CANDLES, TORCHES HEATH RANDALL, PICCONES IGA
FAR North camping and hardware stores have loaded their shelves with cyclone essentials.
Geo Pickers Camping and Outdoors manager Nik Richardson said the weekend would be “full on” as locals refilled gas cylinders and stocked up on burners, torches and jerry cans.
“Gas is people’s bread and butter. We’ll have all hands on deck,” he said.
“It will probably be busier than Christmas.”
He said battery-powered radios, tarps and tape were also popular ahead of cyclones.
“I was working here for Yasi and it was just crazy. We had people filling gas bottles until close,” Mr Richardson said.
“We sold out of anything that could emit light or be used for cooking.
“But these things are always good to have stashed away; you might need them next year.”
Heath Randall, store manager at Piccones IGA in Manoora, recommended stocking up early and thinking ahead in case the worst strikes.
“Being up here in Cairns, it takes four days to get stock up here by rail. If the rail is shut down we truck it up,” he said.
“If that gets blocked off by water and flooding then we use locals, if they’ve got enough stock, to supply us. It helps them as well as us and the customers.”
He said the threat of Cyclone Yasi had cleared their shelves within two days in 2011.
“We did run out of long-life milk because everyone bought everything we had. They pretty much bought all the fresh milk straight away,” he said.
“People come in looking for bread, plenty of bags of ice, water, batteries, candles, torches. After two days we were getting very low on stock.”
He said water was the one thing the store didn’t run out of quickly during Yasi.
“Water wasn’t too bad because we bought up on water beforehand, but we see it go out the door by the pallet,” he said.
Manunda mum Jantik Parker said she was getting her essentials early.
“I usually wait until the last minute and there isn’t anything left on the shelf,” she said.
“I’m getting batteries and tin food, they’re the most important thing. I’ve lost my power before for five days during the last cyclone.”
She said she was born and raised in FNQ and had lived through her fair share of cyclones. She said her top tip was to buy a generator.
“I’d recommend a generator. It makes life easy, especially when you have kids,” she said.