Central Illinois grocers, officials prepare for storms

Herbert Stubbs, from Decatur, has been shopping for himself since his wife passed away five years ago. “But I still did the shopping,” he said.

His shopping trip on Monday was spent preparing for the first round of bad weather expected on Tuesday. His cart was filled with noodles, milk, ice cream and water. “I’m a bachelor,” he said. “I don’t like to cook. And it’s hard to cook for one person.”

By mid afternoon, a visual check of a couple grocery locations showed some locations with near-empty bread shelves and mixed selections of meat.

According to the National Weather Service in Lincoln, the start of hazardous weather will have begun early Tuesday morning.

“The accumulating snow will occur before sunrise Tuesday, before changing over to rain,” the weather service stated on the website.

The Macon County Emergency Management Agency hosted a Winter Storm System webinar Monday morning with information on the storm’s trajectory and outcome. The meeting also provided information on how to stay safe in the hazardous conditions, including dress warmly, stay hydrated, move only small amounts of snow when shoveling, and take frequent breaks.

Along with the possibility of several inches of snow, winds could gust up to 40 mph beginning Tuesday night and last into Wednesday morning, potentially leading to blowing and drifting snow.

The conditions may return again by the weekend.

Days before the winter weather was expected to turn from mild 40-degree, yet cloudy, days to windy conditions with heavy precipitation, several grocery store employees were preparing for more customers by stocking up on needed items.

Moweaqua’s Dollar General employees Shelly Waterman and Angela Hatley had already found themselves busy shortly after the news of bad weather was announced on local news outlets. “They’ve been getting canned goods, milk and bread,” Waterman said. “The usual.”

The employees noticed that most of the customers preparing are older and may have experienced power outages that lasted days.

“And they don’t want to have to get back out if it does get bad,” Hatley said.

The grocery stores have to be prepared as well.

Save A Lot manager Adriene Henry was in the process of ordering items for the weekend delivery at the East William Street store when she learned about the possibility of a storm. “Now I know I need to order up on the water, milk, eggs and meat,” she said. “And of course the beers.”

Henry has worked in the retail industry for 15 years. She said she has experienced other storms and the customers who worry about them. “I’m a little surprised when we have a lot of them grabbing the milk and the meat, considering a lot of the time we have power outages, which means it’s going to spoil,” she said. “I’d think they would go more towards the canned goods.”

According to the National Weather Service in Lincoln, last year’s winter, from December 2022 to February 2023, ranked fifth as the least snowiest season, with only 3.8 inches of snow, since the weather service began recording statistics in 1881. By the end of April, the area had added another three inches to the totals, but still raised the area to a ranking of third for the least snowiest season.

Customers of Homerun Meat and Groceries on South Jasper Street in Decatur often travel to the neighborhood store on foot, according to the owner Ribby Qattoum.

“Whenever we have storms, a lot of our customers walk here,” he said. “So we try to clean up the parking lot as much as we can to make it easier for them and safe, so they don’t slip and fall.”

This week’s predicted storm isn’t the first snowfall since Homerun joined the neighborhood two years ago. Qattoum said he often sells a larger quantity of grocery essentials with the threat of bad weather. “But also salt,” he said. “They use it for their houses, or snow melt.”

Along with the grocery staples, customers can also get meals at the neighborhood store. “We sell pizzas and hot food,” Qattoum said. “And desserts and all that.”