In Irene’s Path

The Cape St. Claire Shopping Center was a busy place Thursday afternoon as local residents stocked up on groceries and supplies and prepared to ride out Hurricane Irene.

As reported earlier today by Patch, the National Weather Service currently predicts that the center of Irene will approach Maryland early Sunday morning, with wind gusts between 74 and 110 miles per hour.

The Weather Channel says the powerful storm churning at 14 mph up the East Coast has the potential to be the strongest to hit the northeast in a couple of decades.

Yikes.

Chris Timko of Cape St. Claire is among those taking the forecast seriously. He was standing in line at just after lunchtime with a 5-gallon gasoline container in his hand. He already had six smaller containers in the back of his truck to power his portable generator, which he fired up yesterday to make sure it worked.

“I’m going to fill my jet ski up as a reserve. I can always siphon out of the jet ski. A lot of people don’t think of that,” he said.

At the other end of the shopping center, all the close-in spaces in front of were full at 2 p.m., as shoppers hurried in to beat the expected rush.

Winnie Hall, of Cape St. Claire, held a colorful striped umbrella over her head as she took her shopping bags one by one to the car. She needed to go out anyway to pick up items for a luncheon tomorrow, but after hearing the weather forecast, she figured “I better get what I need for over the weekend."

Len Yuhas, assistant store manager, expects a storm-surge of shoppers as the hurricane gets closer. “It’s been busy, like a snow scare,” he said near the egg counter where the stacks of cartons were dwindling. “We’ve got a bunch of supplies coming tomorrow morning to replenish.”

Batteries and water were the two hottest items, he said. Graul’s sold out of gallon jugs of water yesterday.

Cindy Reese, who moved to the Cape five years ago, had three packs of bottled water in her cart. “I have two dogs and I want to make sure they’re taken care of,” she said, in case there’s a problem with her well. Her husband and father spent the morning cutting tree limbs and moving patio furniture inside in preparation for the storm.

A West Coast resident for most of her life, she’s still reeling from the 5.8 magnitude earthquake that struck the area on Tuesday. “Out here I didn’t expect it. I was shocked,” she said.

Produce manager Donna Taylor showed some of the photos she took minutes after the earthquake hit. Bottles of salad dressing and spaghetti lay crashed on the floor and the cereal aisle looked as if it had been ransacked. The store closed for an hour for staff to clean it all up.

Now they’re in hurricane mode.

“We’re trying to adjust what we’re buying so we have plenty of everything, but if the power goes off, we don’t have so many perishables in the house,” she said.

As others bustled about with their hurricane to-do lists in hand, Raintree resident Lawrie Gardner was taking the dire forecast in stride as she calmly strode between stores at the shopping center soliciting donations for the 35th reunion of Severna Park High School’s Class of 1976, which will be held Oct. 22 at the Earleigh Heights Fire Station.

“I have food in my freezer and I don’t have any babies at home,” she said with a shrug. “I’ve got my wine at home, I’m all right.”