Washington residents searched high and low for a product normally overlooked by most shoppers and placed humbly below its AA-rated comrades on the shelves: D batteries. The elusive items sold out at hardware stores, pharmacies and groceries across the region. Lara Edge went to three stores in Silver Spring Friday morning — all of them sold out of D batteries — before she bought the last package available at a Rite Aid on Georgia Avenue.
District residents had good reason for scrambling to find the fuel for their flashlights and lanterns: In the region’s last major hurricane, Isabel, 570,000 Pepco customers were without power for more than 10 days. Pepco called customers Friday morning to warn them Irene would probably take out power for “multiple days.”
About 300 people asked about D batteries at Walgreen’s in Old Town Alexandria Friday, store manager Chris Mizera said. The store sold out Thursday night but ordered an emergency shipment for Saturday.
At Ace Hardware on P & 14th, the only self-powered light sources left Friday afternoon were night lights.
“There was pretty much a run on everything this morning,” a store employee said. – Liz Essley
