The imminent arrival of hurricane Sandy is putting pressure on retail stores in its path. Lowe’s stores throughout the north east and even Canada are running out of supplies as people scramble to prepare themselves. The Innovation Trail’s Kate O’Connell reports.
Lowe’s stores are completely out of generators in Albany, and the surrounding district.
Stores in Rochester, say they ran out as early as Friday as people tried to prepare themselves for the possibility of prolonged power outages, and even stores across the border in Canada are low on stock.
Lowe’s spokesperson Jacqueline Pardini says they have sent out about 500 trucks to restock more than 200 stores that fall in Sandy’s path.
“Generators and water are in very high demand. We’re also seeing a lot of demand for items such as batteries, flash lights, chainsaws, tarps, extension cords, cleaning supplies, and shop vacs.”
In New York city alone there have been more than 400 posts on craigslist selling generators, some for more than double the normal retail price.
Mercy Flight Central suspends operations
Mercy Flight Central, an upstate medical air service, will shut down operations during hurricane Sandy. The entire area the group serves is predicted to be hit by the storm, but they say they won’t be able to fly patients until winds die down.
Based in Canandaigua, NY, Mercy Flight serves 26 counties and about three million people.
The group says they haven’t had to cancel any flights in advance, but in the time they’ll be out of action they’d usually fly about seven critically ill patients to various hospitals around the region.
Mercy Flight president and CEO Neil Snedeker says the winds will be too strong for them to operate once Sandy hits, and that means patients will have to wait for an ambulance.
“Most of the time from a good portion of the Finger Lakes area it’s usually about 20 minutes or less for us to fly a patient into Rochester. Now with the severe weather and the patient has to go by ground, the patient’s probably going to be in the back of the ambulance, probably for double that amount of time.”
Snedeker says their critical care crews will work with the ambulance services for the duration of the grounding.
