HURRICANE SANDY PANIC BUYING IN BETHESDA CONTINUES TO CAUSE SHORTAGES OF WATER, BATTERIES AND MORE (PHOTOS)

PLUS:

WHAT ITEMS ARE

YOU BUYING THE

MOST OF IN

BETHESDA?

I KNOW THE ANSWERS!

Another Robert Dyer @ Bethesda Row Exclusive

Saturday was far from a day of rest for Bethesda residents gathering supplies ahead of Hurricane Sandy's devastating arrival Monday.  Drivers sat in long lines at gas stations in downtown Bethesda, and over on River Road.  Demand was so high that Sunoco ran out of fuel, but called in a new tanker by mid-evening Saturday.  C and D size batteries, and bottled water remain the most-ransacked items in Bethesda.

Strosniders on Arlington Road said they are expecting a fresh shipment of those batteries today.  Bottled water shortages spread from Bethesda Row to the Arlington Road Safeway, to the Westbard Giant.

You've heard a lot about lists from the authorities and media.

But what is actually on a Bethesda hurricane shopping list?

I've gathered the answers for you, based upon the most-purchased items at grocery stores across town.

TOP SELLERS IN BETHESDA:

1. Bottled water

2. C/D batteries

3. Milk

4. Paper towels

5. Peanut butter

6. Ritz crackers

7. SPAM

8. Tortilla chips

9. Ramen noodles

10. DVDs

Enjoy this photo gallery of fellow residents furiously preparing for Hurricane Sandy, vicariously from your easy chair (unless you haven't finished shopping yet!).

Water aisle at Arlington Rd. Safeway

Westbard Giant water aisle

Westbard paper towel aisle

Peanut Butter aisle

Bethesda is crackers about Ritz

Bethesda is grabbing handfuls of DVDs, but even a
killer storm can't sell them on trash like
Angels & Demons with Tom Hanks

Lines formed at gas stations Saturday,
and some even ran out of gas

Don't "panic" about Sandy:

Follow @BethesdaRow

on Twitter!

WILL HURRICANE SANDY HIT MARYLAND, DC AREA? LATEST MODEL SAYS YES! EAST COAST FRANKENSTORM

BETHESDA STORM CENTER

SANDY UPDATE

The historically-most-accurate Euro model of Hurrricane Sandy is now predicting an almost-certain East Coast landfall by the storm, between Monday and Tuesday.  Our area is within the red zone that stretches from Norfolk, VA to Nova Scotia.  We are almost sure to be hit by Sandy, either directly or in passing.

Remember the three possible scenarios I mentioned yesterday, and how we'd have to wait until certain atmospheric trends played out, to know which track it would take?

Those have been whittled down to one by the latest Euro model.  What changed?  In addition to the jet stream staying too far west, a dominating clockwise current northeast of the U.S. is likely to hurl Sandy westward, and right into the Eastern seaboard.

Barring the chance that Sandy slips eastward before hitting that northeast high pressure system, we are now almost certainly in for a wild and wooly Monday.  Our worst case scenario would be Sandy making landfall between Norfolk and Delaware.  Aside from the danger of Sandy actually coming up the Chesapeake Bay, those located west, north and northwest of the landfall point will be the hardest hit.  And that would include the DC area.

In such a scenario, this could be a historic Mid-Atlantic storm.  Even if that doesn't happen, this pre-Halloween Frankenstorm will still cause power outages, falling trees, flooding and disruption of rail and air transportation in the Northeast Corridor.  Adding to flooding concerns, we will have a Full Moon when Sandy makes landfall.  Tides will already be higher as a result.  Forecasts call for 6" of rainfall; currently, Sandy is producing rainfall of 12-20" in the Carribean.

Continue to monitor the hurricane reports, as the final turn eastward by Sandy as it moves up the coast is the one thing the Euro model hasn't - and can't - show in advance.

One other point on flooding:  If you are in a residential neighborhood, make sure the gutters along your street are free of leaves.  Leaf collection is a couple of weeks off; leaf piles in the gutter can cause streets to flood by slowing and preventing normal function by stormwater systems.

Bottom line:  Frankenstorm may deliver pre-Halloween screams.

Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

Here's the latest on Sandy:

LOCATION:  485 miles SSE of Charleston, SC

WINDS:  80 MPH

MOVING:  NW at 13 MPH

Latest Developments:

+HURRICANE WATCH FOR NW BAHAMAS

+TROPICAL STORM WATCH BETWEEN

SAVANNAH RIVER AND

OREGON INLET, NC