Shoppers empty shelves to prepare for Hurricane Sandy

>>> you're looking at long beach, new york , as we return with more of our special coverage of hurricane sandy. millions of americans spent the weekend stocking up for the storm's arrival. water, batteries and flashlights in high demand, and in many places in short supply. nbc's jeff rossen is at a home depot in queens , new york . jeff, good morning to you.

>> reporter: hey, matt, good morning. i know a lot of people are at home right now saying should i even bother going to the store, or are they sold out of everything, and the answer is it really depend on the product. at this home depot , they actually have plenty of the big flashlights which people need. the problem, is as you know, if you're like me and at home trying to find the batteries, a lot of them take the "d" batteries and the battery counter, stocked with the aas and cs, but you can't find "d" batteries almost anywhere. all the batteries, the "d" shelf that you need for flashlights. reports of people on the sides of roads selling batteries for up to $10. that's how much in demand they are. the good news is, we've been telling people you need water for at least several days in case the power goes out. there seems to be water at least here which is very good news, but the problem is across the country, store shelves are really becoming very empty. in fact, i asked overnight for my twitter followers to send me photos and they have, and i have the list here of people who have sent me things. katherine in mohegan lake, new york , an a & p supermarket. look at the store shelves when you go in there, except for some candy completely empty. edwin in stonybrook, new york , on eastern long island which will be hit hard. this is a target store , and people are making a major run on snacks. we've actually heard that as well, too. kiley in newington, connecticut, another target store . this is the bread aisle, one of e essentials tt you need, completely empty. no bread left. we're hearing from a lot of store, major run on bread, and finally christina in south brunswick , new jersey, this is a stop & shop , and you can see the shore stefhelves are basically empty. major run on generators. a store in pennsylvania that got ren jators. within a couple minutes they were all gone. at this store at least plenty of plywood to board up. a couple hours left. that's it to prepare. matt.

>> jeff rossen in queens, new