How Do People Prepare for Hurricanes?

Everyone has heard of hurricane preparedness, but not everyone agrees on what that should entail. While some people are probably securing shelter and stocking up on water and canned goods, many others are filling their caches with some surprising supplies: namely, beer and strawberry Pop-Tarts. This information comes from the world's biggest retailer, Walmart, which names beer as the company's best-selling item leading up to a hurricane. But the popular strawberry pastry from Kellogg's is close behind, with sales jumping by 700 percent before a potential natural disaster. One economist offered an explanation: Pop-Tarts can be stored for ages, require no cooking, and can be eaten at any time of day. According to Walmart, the other items that fly off the shelves include batteries, bottled water, bread, and containers for fuel.

The world of Walmart:

• Walmart seems ubiquitous, but it wasn't until 1995 that the retailer could boast a store in all 50 U.S. states.
• Albany, New York, is home to the largest Walmart Supercenter in the United States, covering approximately 260,000 square feet (24,155 square meters), or the equivalent of about five football fields.
• Texas has the most Walmart stores, with more than 500 locations in the Lone Star State. San Antonio and Houston have more than a dozen stores each.