BEAUMONT, Texas — Southeast Texans are in preparation mode as an arctic cold front is expected to make its way to the area Thursday afternoon and plummet temperatures into the lows teens.
The cold front is also expected to bring wind chills into the single digits Friday, with cold weather persisting through Christmas. Area officials are encouraging Southeast Texans to take the cold weather seriously and prepare as soon as possible to protect the four p's: plants, people, pipes and pets.
MORE | LIST: Warming stations, emergency shelters opening in Southeast Texas ahead of artic cold front
M&D Supply in Beaumont is playing a huge role in helping residents prepare from selling insulation pipes and plant covers, to faucet covers.
Sales Manager Frank McHaney says don't procrastinate. Now is the time to prep your home.
He says they are going through hundreds of faucet covers every 10 to 15 minutes.
"We got two more trucks coming in and they are gonna be loaded up with cold weather merchandise. It's gonna go extremely fast, so the urgency is really there. Make sure you take care of your home," McHaney said.
Shoppers like Fred Allen wasted no time stocking up on last minute items.
"I'm just generally preparing. I expected it to be worse than what it is right now with all the number of people in here. So, I just needed a few more of these to catch a few places," Allen said.
McHaney says to prioritize your pipes, so you can avoid the worst.
"This 17-degree weather is gonna carry on for a few hours, so that makes it even more critical that you have your pipes protected since they will freeze up and they will burst," he said.
If you can't find specific supplies, there are some ways to improvise.
"We do have heat magnetic tape, and it can be plugged into it. For faucet covers, wrap it with anything you can find, a towel, use a plastic bag to cover it and ducktape. The whole thing is keep the cold weather off of it," McHaney said.
McHaney says with just about 25 years in the customer service field, he knows that supplies will sell out quickly.