VIDEO: Grocery store shelves bare in the Central Okanagan

Residents in the Central Okanagan have been sent into a frenzy of panic shopping, as roads to the Lower Mainland have been cut off due to the extreme weather.

Grocery stores in the region have been picked apart with shelves of produce, frozen goods, meats and more left bare.

Many people are worried that the supply chain of goods that the Okanagan receives from places like Vancouver would be delayed.

While that is partially true, and the minister of transportation and the provincial government is working to re-open these roads, grocers will still be able to receive shipments from other parts of the country.

For example, Calgary is a main retailer for local grocer Lakeview Market.

“We’re reminding people to buy apples, pears, and squash that are grown locally, we’ll always have lots of that,” said Barb Hill, Lakeview Market.

“We might run out of the odd thing in the produce department, but I think it’s really important for people to be confident in the fact that we will have groceries in the next week.”

A shipment of produce and canned goods is expected to arrive this week from Alberta as well.

“The panic buying is actually the worst thing that people can do in a situation like we’re having right now,” she explained. “We are not going to run out of food.”

Customers coming out of some of the big box stores in Kelowna noted that shelves are completely bare and that queues were over 30 minutes long.

“It was total chaos,” said one shopper. “Frozen foods gone, fresh produce nothing, milk is low. It was probably worse than when the pandemic hit I would say in terms of not enough food.”

At the beginning of the pandemic, shoppers were faced with shortages of toilet paper as people began to overstock.

Since then stores have put in measures to avoid that from taking place again and signs have been brought back limiting one package per family.

“I think in the next few days if people are to stay calm and buy what they need, they don't need to start overbuying,” said Hill.

As community members head to the store, remember to take what you need as supplies will continue to be shipped to the Central Okanagan even if shelves look vacant for the time being.