Orlando shoppers stock up on water ahead of Hurricane Idalia

Austin Fuller and Skyler Swisher, Orlando Sentinel
·3 min read
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CASSELBERRY — Susana Carcasona-Lacore likes to prepare for hurricanes ahead of time by keeping eight large jugs of water at her Casselberry home during the season.

On Tuesday, she already had batteries at her house but she filled up three five-gallon water jugs at the Casselberry Publix. The 53-year-old has been in Florida since 1973, so she’s endured plenty of storms.

“I filled the three up because they were down, and I don’t want to have to come back out in the middle of the storm and look for it,” Carcasona-Lacore said. “We’ve been lucky [with past storms], but luck runs out. I like to be prepared because I don’t like the panic mode that happens in the stores. … It wasn’t too bad [in Publix Tuesday].”

Shelves of water at some Orlando stores were thinned ahead of Hurricane Idalia, but supplies remained available in Central Florida as panic buying and storm preparation remained far from the fever that has led up to past storms.

“I wasn’t really stressed about [Idalia] because I’m watching how it’s going more north,” said Carcasona-Lacore, who also picked up hotdogs for the grill just in case the power went out.

There was still water available inside the Casselberry Publix, although shelves were emptier than normal, and the nearby Walmart also had plenty of bottled water. But the shelves of water at the Publix in Orlando’s Baldwin Park neighborhood were largely empty Tuesday morning.

Shoppers were calm at a Publix south of downtown.

The store had ample supplies of water, ice and other hurricane necessities. A table with batteries and lanterns sat mostly untouched as business resembled a normal weekday. A nearby Walmart also had plenty of water.

Publix spokeswoman Hannah Herring said Tuesday availability will vary by store and time depending on delivery schedules.

“But our teams are working diligently to keep our stores stocked, and we will continue to make product deliveries as long as it is safe to do so,” she said.

Gas stations spot-checked on parts of Semoran Boulevard and Colonial Drive near east Orlando and Winter Park did not have lines of customers waiting to fuel up.

Some storm preparation items are tax free, as the state’s second “Disaster Preparedness Sales Tax Holiday” of the year kicked off on Saturday and runs through Sept. 8.

Although the stores and gas stations were largely calm, people weren’t letting their guard down, especially with memories fresh from Hurricane Ian’s devastating flooding last year.

A steady stream of cars pulled up to Orange County’s free sandbag distribution around lunchtime Tuesday at Downey Park.

Ahmad Muhammad, 25, piled 11 sandbags into his trunk. During Ian, floodwater stopped just short of his house, he said.

“I’m not one of those people who puts their hazards on when it starts raining,” Muhammad said. “It’s just going to be rain. … It’s good to be prepared, but there is no point in being scared.”

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