CUTLER BAY, Fla. – People who live in southwest Miami-Dade lined up early Wednesday outside stores to get supplies ahead of Hurricane Irma.
The Home Depot in Cutler Bay opened at 6 a.m., but customers were waiting outside before then to make sure they were able to get their hands on supplies that are still in stock.
"Today has been a crazy day. It's been hectic," a Home Depot employee, Emanuel Harris, said. "A lot of people have been coming and stuff and getting carts, and we just been trying to do the best that we can."
Those who live in the area were devastated by Hurricane Andrew in 1992, so they take the threat of the Category 5 hurricane seriously.
"As of this morning, they said it would come off the east coast now," one customer, William Keiser, said. "So I'm like, probably an 8, if I had to rate it 1 to 10 of concern. I'm boarding up my house."
"When I got here, there was a long line of people. They said no wood. Everybody dispersed. I hung in there," another customer, Marcus Smith, said. "You either are going to have to face it later or you go and come back, and when you come back, there may be even a bigger line."
Hours later, a new shipment arrived and the line for plywood was back.
"Plywood is the cheapest way to board up your windows and protect your property from broken windows," Smith said. "Once one window is broken and the wind pressure gets in, it can circulate your whole home and just start to whip everything from the inside out."
A Home Depot in Pembroke Pines opened up about five minutes early Wednesday as a crowd of people gathered outside its doors.
"We have been out all day. We haven't been home yet all night," one customer, Michael Mohammed, said.
At the Home Depot in North Miami on Tuesday, customers waited in their cars for hours, desperately trying to get plywood.
The store eventually ran out and had to restock.
Generators, sandbags and gas tanks were also in short supply.
The stress of getting ready proved to be too much for some.
Local 10's cameras were rolling as one man chased down another who had apparently hit him during a fight over plywood.
The alleged attacker ran out of the store.
"He first grabbed me. I told him not to grab me, not to touch me. I'm not touching him," Joshua Shempko said. "He cursed me. I said to him, 'I'm not using foul language. Do not curse me. I'm not cursing you.' And he looked at me like that and he started, like, cursing again. He grabbed me and then he lunged."
While the man ran out of the store, police eventually caught up to him and detained him.
Officials say getting supplies early and being prepared is essential, although people should be doing so safely.
Key items people should have ahead of a hurricane include flashlights with extra batteries, lanterns, generators, plywood, gas and a cooler for ice and food.
A lot of people are also concerned about finding bottled water, but Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez said people should not worry, because tap water is safe to drink.
Besides household supplies, people have also been concerned about stocking up on gas.
Local 10's cameras were rolling early in the morning at a RaceTrac gas station in South Miami Heights when workers announced that they were already out of gasoline.
Local 10 News reporter Jenise Fernandez found a Mobil gas station on Miami Gardens Drive and Northwest 87th Avenue that still had gas, and the lines to pump were fluctuating.
Some people said they have waited for gas for 30 minutes to an hour.
"It's been really hard trying to get gas everywhere," Martin Garrido said. "We were just lucky to get some gas here now, but if you go to the other gas stations over there, their line -- it's just terrible, you know."
By 7 a.m., the Mobil had run out of regular gas and only had premium left. By 8 a.m., the gas station was completely out of gas.
The Chevron across the street from the Mobil was already out of gas at some of its pumps earlier in the morning and it's unclear when they will get more.
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