CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The city of Corpus Christi ran out of sandbags a little over an hour into Friday's distribution, with a line of people still waiting for supplies.
While distributions are happening in other areas of the Coastal Bend, most are limited to residents of specific counties or cities. So what can you do if you missed out Friday morning?
DO NOT take sand from the beach for sand bags
One thing you can't do: Go to the beach and fill your own.
"That's a big no-no," said Nueces County Coastal Parks Director Scott Cross.
So, big, he said, that if you're caught you can be fined because it's a violation of the Texas Natural Resources Code Section 63.001.
For people who have grown up in Corpus Christi, the dunes are part of scenery.
What we don't think about is that they actually serve a function, and that's where the Natural Resources Code comes in.
The dunes provide protection against storms such as Beryl, which could do much more damage if the sand wasn't there to create a barrier of sorts between the water and the city.
They're so important, that, yes, stealing from them is punishable by a $50-$200 fine.
So then what can you do?
Lowe's and Home Depot and other hardware stores have water-activated flood barriers for sale in limited quantities at stores around the area, but for anyone who can't afford to spend money right now, you should know that sand isn't the only bag filler that could work to stop water from entering.
Several web searches point to various viable substitutions, including kitty litter, and soil, or any kind of dirt or gravel -- basically, whatever you use to fill your trash bags instead of sand has to be heavy, and not buoyant, and it has to be water absorbent.
So even wet blankets and rags will work.