If you have electricity and water, they will come – and buy stuff.
Victims of what’s being dubbed the “Blackout of 2003 – which began shortly after 4 p.m. Thursday – flooded the Oxford area Friday like refugees from a neighboring worn-torn country.
“We heard there was power in Oxford, plus I know there’s a Starbucks in Oxford,” said Rochester resident Loren Mannino, who was shopping at the Oxford Meijer with his wife Liz.
“We heard it on WJR,” said Meijer shopper Alice Treemont, of Rochester Hills. “They announced that Lake Orion and Oxford have power.”
Others heard that Oxford possessed the elusive electricity from friends and relatives living here.
Dan Williams, of Rochester, said his son has a friend in Oxford who told thim they didn’t lose power.
“I figure where there’s power, there’s stuff,” Williams said as he loaded his cart with bottled water.
They came by the thousands from all over – including Rochester, Rochester Hills, Troy, Pontiac, Orion and West Bloomfield, to name but a few communities – to buy gallons of bottled water, gasoline, bags of ice, batteries (especially D-size batteries), candles, propane, charcoal and grills, food, flashlights and radios.
“We’re not the greatest survivalists,” explained Liz Mannino. “We used up most of our supplies last night.”
Hoards of the powerless and/or waterless refugees converged on the Oxford Meijer like an invading army to stock up on supplies.
“It’s been crazy this morning,” said Meijer employee Katherine Fox, of Oxford.
“It’s a madhouse. Definitely a madhouse,” said Pontiac resident Dorothy Olsen, who waited 2? hours to get gasoline at the Meijer station before entering the store to stock up on bottled water and other beverages.
“We drove two hours to find this place,” said Troy resident Tom Leone, who headed north with his friend Mike Tauscher, also of Troy. Along with gasoline, the pair purchased 96 bottles of water.
“Thank God they’re open,” said Pontiac resident Lorinene Smith of the Meijer store. Smith spent Thursday night with her daughter, Angie Browne, in Ortonville, who had both power and water.
Although Oxford resident Nancy Brinker had both power and water at home, she stocked up on bottled water at Meijer for her husband’s business and the couple’s weekend getaway.
Her husband owns the Lake Orion-based Brinker Veterinary Hospital, which was without water because Orion is hooked up to the Detroit water system.
“I bought huge five-gallon jugs to help water the animals,” she said.
Brinker also bought bottled water and gasoline for the couple’s weekend trip to their sailboat docked in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada.
She said she called ahead and found out the city had its power back, however, there were reports of “roving blackouts.”
“I don’t know if the water there is drinkable,” Brinker said. “I don’t trust the drinking water there.”
Some supply-seekers avoided Meijer altogether due to the crowds and headed to other Oxford stores.
“We were going to head over to Meijer, but you can’t even get near it,” said Deborah Magnotte, of Lake Orion, who was shopping at the Oxford Ace Hardware.
Ace employee Dave P’Simer said the hardware store Friday ran out of bottled water, D-size batteries, and 30-amp plugs (used for generators).
Extension cords, lamp oils, flashlights, charcoal and gasoline containers were also popular sellers at Ace. “We’re selling all kinds of things,” P’Simer said.
In addition to needing supplies, P’Simer said, “I think people are just in here to not be home” in the heat without power and/or water.