EMPTY shelves yesterday greeted many shoppers at some supermarkets across the Corporate Area as Jamaicans stocked up on emergency supplies in preparation for Hurricane Dean, which is projected to hit the island early tomorrow.

Motorists also formed long queues outside gas stations, as they waited patiently to fill their tanks with petrol.

At the MegaMart superstore in Kingston, shoppers stacked their shopping carts with cases of water, tin foods, flashlights, candles, radios and other supplies. Store manager Shaun Battick said bread was also going very fast. “We are restocking on bread but. before we can even put it on the shelf it is gone,” he told the Observer.

According to Battick, people were taking the impending hurricane more seriously than previously. “Never before have we seen such large crowds three or four days before the storm,” he said.

Shelly-Ann Harris, a customer, said she is usually prepared for a hurricane, but she had not yet done her grocery shopping and was caught up in the rush.

“It is not really hurricane shopping that I am doing but I do take it into account in the things I am buying,” she said.

She said that she had to send her husband rummaging under the bottom shelf to get the last two packs of water crackers.

Another customer, Pastor Winnifred Shackleford, of the Prayer House of Refuge Christian Fellowship in Kingston, said although she bought bottles of water she was not going overboard in her preparation as she was praying for God to shift the course of the hurricane.

“I say Lord we are going into the point of a new era where we are coming into a general election, and so really it is a little bit much on us now so we are really seeking divine intervention in terms of you favouring us,” she told the Observer.

One shopper, Recardo Nathan, said he was taking a wait-and-see approach to the hurricane, although he was buying a few emergency supplies.

He said he was also being careful not to purchase any food item which needed to be refrigerated.

“I think the house is fairly secured so I am not really worried about the hurricane. I just want to ensure I have some dry goods in the house and some water,” he said.

At SuperPlus supermarket on Hope Road, the situation was much the same as shoppers scrambled to fill their carts with emergency supplies.

Store manager Omar Duval said the increased activities started on Thursday night and increased drastically yesterday morning.

He said the store still had hurricane supplies coming in as these were usually pre-ordered from suppliers. “So when something like this happens we just call them and have them release it,” he said.

Duval said some suppliers were out of items such as Pepsi and all Red Stripe products, but was able to source them from wholesale stores. “People buy a lot of liquor at this time, ” he said.

At another store in Tropical Plaza, the Observer was told that two-burner gas stoves were sold out, apparently by persons who use electric stoves.

Motorists spilled out onto some roads to purchase fuel at petrol stations.

“I have small children and so in case anything happen me want to be able to rush with them to hospital or to go to a shelter,” said a motorist who was in a line to buy fuel at a petrol station on Beechwood Avenue. He said he was prepared to wait as he would not leave with the needed commodity.

Meanwhile, the Port Authority said yesterday it already had a variety of contingency plans in place to ensure that operations could return to normality shortly after the hurricane passes.

“The plan makes provision for the securing of all assets if the storm indeed comes and so we should be able to resume operations in a matters of hours like we did in Ivan,” said Patrick Bellafanti, the port’s assistant vice-president for public relations.

At Air Jamaica, public relations manager Marjorie Robinson said there were no cancellation of flights as yet, as the airline awaited further information on the hurricane.