Shopping For Florida's Hurricane Sales Tax Holiday Gets Underway In South Florida

MIAMI (CBSMiami) - Shoppers began hitting home improvement stores in South Florida as the annual Hurricane Sales Tax Holiday began.

Pat Vazquez knows one thing about South Floridians, they're going to wait until the last minute when it comes to preparing for a storm.

But mistakes of the past mean this year she's getting a head start on stocking up on batteries.

"We tend to procrastinate, I don't know why because we should know better," says Vazquez. "Because if not you'll end up at the dollar store like I did and those batteries don't last very long."

Vazquez is taking advantage of the annual sales tax holiday for hurricane supplies at The Home Depot near the Dolphin Mall.

The Nation Weather Service predicts another above-average Atlantic hurricane season this year.

The outlook calls for 13-20 named storms, 6-10 hurricanes of which three to five of them will be major storms.

Home Depot Employee David Olivera is no stranger to what happens inside his store when a storm approaches, he says shopping now creates less problems not only for you but for workers as well.

"You don't want to have that chaos, you don't want to have angry customers, you don't want to have those big, long lines, so it's best to do it right now," says Olivera.

Click here to know more about the Tax Holiday.