Area residents have about 24 hours before Hurricane Irene will bring hard rain and heavy winds.

If you haven't already done so, it's probably wise to get a few essentials, such as bottled water and batteries in case of extended power outages.

Severn and Odenton Patch spent Friday checking out local stores to see what's in stock. Keep in mind that all stores may still be getting shipments of certain products, so if they don't have something now, they may be getting more before the storm hits. And also be aware that a full stock of an item can go quickly.

We were successful in getting batteries and bottled water at the Weis market Friday morning, but by the time we returned in the afternoon, bottled water was cleaned out. However, plenty of batteries remained.

The Lowe's in Severn had a few flashlights left on Friday morning, as well as a few cases of bottled water and a good selection of batteries.

The Walmart in Severn was also out of water, but was expecting a shipment later Friday. The store was out of flashlights on Friday morning.

Safeway in Gambrills appeared to be out of water, but had a good supply of other staples, includingbread.

Odenton ACE Hardware is reportedly low on batteries, but may be getting more.

We're told that the Bloom in Piney Orchard put out a big display of batteries at 6:30 p.m.

Gas stations around the area were getting crowded as of Friday afternoon, but there were no long lines.

For larger batteries, such as car batteries and the 12-volt batteries that fuel the backup systems for Verizon FiOS systems, Patch was successful in finding a good stock at Battery Warehouse in Glen Burnie.