Hurricane Harvey: Bottled Water, Food Flying Off Shelves Throughout Texas In Preparation

AUSTIN, TX — If you're anywhere near the path of Hurricane Harvey—even in outlying cities that will get, at most, copious amounts of rain if not the storm's full fury —good luck shopping for last-minute provisions. Store shelves at various retailers in a wide radius of ground zero have been decimated, with bottled water especially suddenly suffused with a value akin to gold.

HEB, the state's leading grocer, has already closed several stores in Houston and the Texas Gulf Coast, both for the safety of its workers but prompted by an urgent run on groceries and supplies that quickly emptied store shelves as people hunker down for Harvey. For a list of closed stores, click here.

An official at the retailer has seen the Harvey-induced shopping trends and reacted accordingly. It's about instant gratification and an eye toward the utilitarian, with a mass dismissal of food requiring protracted preparation: "No one's buying frozen food today at all," HEB Food and Drug president Scott McClelland told the Houston Chronicle. "We've basically cancelled our frozen food delivery."

Harvey Could Be The Strongest Hurricane To Hit The US Since 2005

Kroger shoppers also are finding it hard to find precious bottled water. A spokesman for that retailer urged customers to keep checking in throughout the day if new shipments have arrived: "Literally some stores have gone through three truckloads in the last 24 hours," spokeswoman Joy Partain told the Houston Chronicle. "As soon as we put it out, customers are buying it."

And it's not just grocery stores reflexively stocking shelves with in-demand items. Home improvement stores have upped their ordering of not only bottled water but emergency supplies such as batteries, flashlights, generators and plywood.

Lowe's, which has 90 stores in the projected path of Hurricane Harvey, has activated its 24/7 emergency command center in North Carolina, according to Fox Business. For its part, Home Depot has mobilized its merchandising and supply=chain teams to send much-needed supplies to the impact zone, the news station reported. The home improvements chain has a major distribution center near Houston that stocks storm-related products in bulk, enabling quick arrival of items to stores, according to the report.

Yet while residents brace for torrential downpours thanks to Harvey, home improvements stores are discreetly awaiting pennies from heaven—million and millions of pennies. Shares of Home Depot (stock symbol HD), Lowe's (LOW) and Generac (GNRC) "...opened higher Friday amid expectations of rising demand for safety equipment and supplies," Business Insider reported.

Home Depot rose 0.6% to 149.61 in early trade on the stock market today, and Lowe's added 0.1%, according to the business publication. As big and bad as Harvey's shaping up to be, it'll likely be good for business: Expected gains in light of Harvey are expected to make up for a two-day slide in value for both home improvement chains, according to Business Insider.

>>> Uppermost photo: Barren shelves at HEB store, Thousand Oaks and Jones Maltsberger, in San Antonio on Thursday evening courtesy of Michele Autenrieth Brown