EARTHQUAKE: THE LONG ROAD BACK : Panic Subsides, but County Residents Still Stockpiling Goods : Preparedness: Stores report emergency supplies such as batteries, flashlights and generators are going fast. At one site, 50 water heaters are sold in one day.

Ventura County residents are still stockpiling batteries, bottled water, canned food and other emergency supplies, although the frenzied buying pace in the immediate aftermath of this week’s 6.6 temblor has slowed, merchants said Thursday.

At the Hughes Market in Moorpark, people were buying “just about what you’d expect--water, batteries, canned goods,” said assistant manager Dana DeSain.

“They’re just buying more quantities of items,” DeSain said. “We’re quite a bit busier.”

Like many hardware outlets, Sears, Roebuck & Co. in Oxnard was selling supplies for lighting quake-darkened homes--flashlights, batteries, camping lanterns and portable generators--said store manager Roger Teel.

“It’s kind of a surprise--we sold a lot of water heaters,” Teel said Thursday. “This time of year we average three or four. We’ve been selling 50 a day for the last couple of days,” in addition to quake-resistant flexible water hookups and straps to anchor the heavy appliances to the wall, he said.

Across the county, customers had lined up earlier in the week outside supermarkets, department stores and building supply outlets, waiting for store employees to escort them through the stores a few at a time.

At the HomeBase store in hard-hit Simi Valley, where water and power outages left residents dark and dry, the store’s shelves of C and D batteries were depleted within 30 minutes of opening Monday, and supplies of quake-resistant flexible water pipes for ruptured water heater connections dwindled fast.

“It’s pretty much the same with all of them,” said Alex Conserva, a clerk at HomeBase. “They all weren’t prepared.”

By Thursday afternoon, the Hughes store in Moorpark was waiting to restock supplies of batteries that had sold out within a few hours of Monday’s earthquake, he said.

While the customers have been asking when more batteries will come in, DeSain said, “I can’t guarantee anything till I see it come in through the back door.”

HomeBase employee Angela Cerrillo said that store received a new shipment of water heaters and half of those have already been sold. More water heaters and plumbing supplies will be shipped in today, she said.

In the quake’s aftermath, other items including flashlights, fire extinguishers and other home safety equipment were plucked off the shelves at hardware outlets, while supermarkets and convenience stores did brisk business in blackout necessities--water, milk, ice, charcoal.

On Monday, the Ralph’s supermarket in Wood Ranch was limiting purchases to five emergency items per family Monday.

Standing nearly 100 deep, customers cheered as the power came on, scurried out from under the awning as an aftershock rocked the store, and groaned when the power failed again moments later.

But most shoppers stayed civil.

Assistant manager Mark Zema said the five-item restriction was lifted when the store reopened Tuesday at 8 a.m. Sales of batteries, flashlights, charcoal and dairy products have been brisk, but business has slowed to near-normal, he said.

“Today for us is like a good Saturday,” Zema said Thursday.

By Tuesday, panic buying at Gelson’s in Thousand Oaks had switched from emergency supplies to all supplies. Shoppers from Westlake Village crammed the aisles alongside Angelenos whose quake-rattled grocery stores in the San Fernando Valley remained closed.

Store manager John Austin juggled duties--fielding phone calls, bagging groceries and dispatching clerks to regulate the flow of customers into the store.

“You can take a look around the store and see--everything is selling,” said Austin, raising his voice over the clatter of shopping carts and the beep of a fully staffed row of cash registers. “The place is going bananas.”

Hardware stores have felt the crush too.

When the quake smashed two major Central Avenue stores in Fillmore--Garren’s Hardware and Patterson Hardware--stores in Santa Paula and Ventura took up the slack.

Dave’s Building Supplies in Santa Paula did brisk business, selling Fillmore residents 2-by-4s and joist hardware to shore up their quake-twisted house frames, and pipes to repair their shattered plumbing.

“It’s been really busy,” said sales clerk Jerry Finley.

Store owner Pat Drake frowned on reports of opportunist merchants jacking up their prices in the aftermath.

“Someplace was selling D batteries for $9 apiece,” she said. “We think it’s terrible--to get people down like that and then kick ‘em.”

At Contractor’s Warehouse in Ventura, Fillmore residents Jeff Morford and Pete Munoz stocked up on flexible water heater pipes for themselves and their neighbors, and slammed the profiteers.

“There’s a gas station in Fillmore charging $2 for a Coke,” Morford said grimly. “I think it sucks . . . any time anybody capitalizes on someone else’s misfortune.”

Early in the week, Contractor’s Warehouse in Ventura sold all four of its gas-powered generators--at $500 to $900 a pop--within a few hours, and the store’s supply of batteries and water heaters went quickly, said assistant manager Rick Machuca.

Out in the store’s lumberyard, plywood and window frames were hot items, selling fast to glass repair shops and Los Angeles residents, said Mark Moon, the yard manager.

Even in Ventura, one of the lesser-hit cities, shoppers wanted water, charcoal, ice and food.

The Ralph’s store on Victoria Avenue in Ventura opened at 3 p.m. Monday and sold $10,000 of the disaster staples in a few hours, said store manager Dave Jordan.

Most said they wish they had bought batteries and other emergency supplies earlier, Jordan said, adding, “But then, we all say that.”