The Baton Rouge community has been preparing for Hurricane Francine by putting together supply kits, charging electronics and stocking up on shelf-stable products in case the power goes out. Consequently, some stores have been cleaned out of some critical goods like water bottles, chargers and paper towels. Here’s what the situation was like Tuesday night at stores in and around LSU’s campus.

Hurricane Francine is projected to make landfall as a Category 2 on the Louisiana coast sometime Wednesday afternoon or evening. Louisiana is anticipating storm surge, flooding rainfall, tornadoes and high winds. Governors of Louisiana and Mississippi have declared a state of emergency. Francine is currently moving Northeast through the Gulf at 75 mph and is projected to make landfall at 90 mph.

LSU has asked that students shelter in place from 10 a.m. Wednesday to 1 p.m. Thursday.

Walmart Supercenter

The Walmart Supercenter at 3132 College Drive was running low on foods like cereal, bread, bagels and peanut butter. It was also out of bottled water and gallons of water, but it had milk, bagged ice, chargers and batteries as of Tuesday night. The location was out of toilet paper.

LSU students Lexi Bourgeois and Emma Collett, both biochemistry sophomores, were looking for portable chargers in the electronics section at the College Drive Walmart. Neither were too concerned about the threat of the hurricane. 

“We both grew up through hurricanes down here,” Bourgeois said.

“I’m still going to attempt to get schoolwork done,” Collett added.

Bourgeois explained that she has experienced hurricanes — and the subsequent power outages — her whole life.

“I remember being a kid and living around LSU campus because my dad went to law school,” said Bourgeois, “and he was doing law classes at the house and us kids were playing cards in the dark.”

Collet added, “We hope everybody stays safe and the northerners don’t freak out!” 

Trader Joe’s

The Trader Joe’s on 3535 Perkins Road was mostly cleared out of bread, chips, beans, tomato sauce, canned soup and pickles. The store was also emptied of sparkling water and water bottles.

Rouses

Shelf-stable meals like canned spaghetti and soup and snacks like crackers, chips and chips were bought up from Rouse’s on 636 Centre Creek Arlington Drive.

As of Tuesday night, the store still had water bottles.

Take 5

Water bottles were available at Take 5, the market attached to The 5 Dining Hall. The market was running low on ramen noodles and chips, but still had sandwiches and other premade meals.

459 Outtakes

Students can find bottled water and other drinks at 459 Outtakes, attached to The 459 Commons dining hall. 459 Outtakes was out of chips, but had other non-refrigerated snacks.

“Me personally, I really want to stock up on water. I feel like I don’t snack a lot anyways, so for three days I think I have what I need,” said mass communication freshman Zhinnia Thompson, who was shopping at 459 Outtakes.

Sports administration freshman Mari Givens was also shopping in the market. Givens, an out-of-state student from Seattle, said she wasn’t sure if she should be worried about the impending Hurricane Francine, referencing a storm she experienced during Welcome Week.

“If it’s anything like that storm,” Givens said, “I am kind of scared. But a lot of people, like natives, are saying it’s nothing to worry about. So I think we should be good.”