As power crews chip away at the number of customers in the dark after Sunday's wind storm, those who are still without electricity are hunting for the basics.
Some grocery store shelves are empty, and other stores are closed, during the extended outage.
At the Kroger store at Mockingbird Lane and Greenville Avenue in Dallas, a commercial generator hummed in the back parking lot Tuesday -- powering the lights and refrigerators inside the store.
"I'm glad somebody's open," customer Julian Tottress said. "In my neighborhood, nothing is open. You have to drive far to find food, gas."
Tottress has been without power at his home in the Lakewood area of Dallas since Sunday. He said he has had to toss out most of his food. Tuesday, he picked up fruit and vegetables -- food he can eat without power.
"We're just having to grill out like we're camping," he said.
Kroger said 19 stores were impacted by the storms. Since Monday, all stores reopened. Kroger didn't have an estimate on what it would cost to dispose of food that was no longer viable or safe.
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Across Dallas County, other stores have remained closed or had to move perishable food to refrigerated trucks to try to save as much stock as possible during the outage.
Monday, Oncor said most customers should have power restored by late Wednesday. The utility said crews from 11 states have joined the efforts to repair damage caused by Sunday's storm.
"We put out that call for help and the crews came," said Carrie Dunn of Oncor.
Dunn said crews would work 16-hour shifts until the power is restored.
"We've deployed them all across Dallas County, so customers are certainly going to be seeing an influx of trucks and crews," Dunn said.
The visibility of the work crews raised hopes for many that Dallas County's days in the dark are dwindling.
"Hopefully it's on soon," Tottress said. "I'm tired of the cold showers, but other than that you can't fix it, can't change it, just have to make the most of it."
