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RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) — It’s back-to-back winter weather for the Triangle, and families want to be ready.

“This is about my third store. So far,” said Wayne Embrey.

He is again preparing for snow and made a stop at Hudson’s Hardware and Equipment Store in Garner.

“This round, I was kind of looking to see if they had any propane or anything like that, just in case the power goes out. I was looking for some ice melt as well, but wasn’t able to find any, ” Embrey said.

ALSO SEE | Chance of weekend snow more likely, ice still around in certain areas

He wasn’t the only person on the hunt for ice melt. The phone has been ringing nonstop at Hudson’s.

“Bagged ice melt is what people want,” said the store’s co-owner, Stone Gulley.

He said a lot of suppliers have dried up, but they may be in luck through one of their local connections.

“They bag through the night, and then we talk to them each morning and basically say, what can we get from you? How many pallets can we get?” explained Gulley.

That’s their plan, but Gulley also offered up more alternatives, such as cat litter or sand to provide traction.

“Sand does not have the same melting qualities that the ice melt does, but you can still put it down to just give you some of your feet, something to grab on to,” he explained.

It’s a helpful hack when the real thing is hard to come by. The sign at Burke Brothers Hardware told the story of just how hard it is to find and keep ice melt in stock.

“I’d love to be able to get some ice melt, like half the world. But nobody around Raleigh that I’m aware of has any ice melt. I don’t think anybody in North Carolina,” said Burke Brothers store owner Jeff Hasting.

Over at Ace Hardware in Durham, restocking is the name of the game.

“We are going to get in some facet covers on a truck tomorrow. Some gas cans, generators, heaters, some of the necessities, batteries, some of the things we ran out of in the last storm, we’re going to be getting in tomorrow,” said store manager Brett Reed.

From businesses to customers, everyone is searching for the same thing to deal with Mother Nature’s double whammy, and at Hudson’s, they are expecting a truck to deliver some of those items, such as shovels, heaters, batteries, and necessities they ran out of in the last storm.

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