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ST. PETERSBURG - At 3:10 p.m. Friday, Home Depot worker Ken Wilson delivered the news to weary plywood shoppers waiting in a line that stretched 300 feet.
"We are out of plywood," Wilson said. But two more truckloads of plywood were headed to the store at 2300 22nd Ave. N.
Maria Sarmentero, who stood in line three hours, would have to wait at least another two hours.
"I'm going to stay here until the truck comes because if I don't stay, I won't get plywood this weekend," said Sarmentero, 55.
Anxious hurricane shoppers hoping to stock up for Hurricane Ivan should expect long waits and hit-or-miss supplies across the Tampa Bay area.
Some lumber stores have sold out of plywood and managers don't know if more will arrive. Chains such as Home Depot expect delivery but are limiting plywood to 20 sheets per customer. Supermarkets are scrambling to stock milk, water and bread.
"Our trucks are rolling, and we're replenishing items," said Camille Branch-Turley, of the Kash N' Karry in Tampa's Hyde Park. "We've been through the drill a number of times, and the citizens know what they're after."
Many stores had plenty of tarps, batteries and duct tape. In high demand and scarce supply were generators and plywood.
A Largo man slept in his truck Thursday night in a Home Depot parking lot in St. Petersburg so he could be first in line for a generator. He was still sitting in the store, waiting for delivery Friday afternoon with a dozen others.
Outside the Home Depot, another customer in search of a generator ran up to store manager Frank Essex.
"So, if I give you a phone number on the back of a $10 bill, will you call me?" joked St. Petersburg resident Steve Koch, 41.
"I'd call every hour on the hour for the next four hours," Essex said.
Suppliers sometimes hold off on shipping generators until forecasters can better predict where a hurricane is expected to make landfall. They don't want to ship generators to Miami if Tampa is in the storm's sights.
"We have no clue when we're getting them, if we get them," said Ed Warren, a Home Depot manager. "We're just hoping they'll send us more."
At 84 Lumber Co. in Tampa, sales coordinator Ryan Fleming said he doesn't expect more truckloads of plywood until Tuesday or Wednesday.
By noon Friday, he had about 1,000 sheets of plywood left and said he didn't know if he would have more today.
"There's going to be a lot of people showing up who are going to be disappointed," Fleming said. "What we have is what we have."
Cox Lumber in St. Petersburg sold 4,000 sheets of plywood by 1 p.m. Friday and was about to start selling more expensive floor and cabinet-grade wood to people.
Grocery stores saw a constant flow of people as workers stocked shelves depleted from Frances.
At a Publix in St. Petersburg, pallets of bottled water sat outside the doors.
Shopper Midge Trubey bought $170 of groceries, including a 20-pound turkey she planned to roast before the storm.
"I have water left over from the last two hurricanes," said Trubey, 56.
While other shoppers buzzed around, searching for canned tuna and peanut butter, 22-year-old Paul Barnes had a simple grocery list.
He left Publix with only a card and a dozen yellow roses for his wife, Samantha, who is seven months pregnant.
"I love her," Barnes said.