Even as the predicted path of Hurricane Joaquin remained unsettled Thursday, folks in Suffolk were beginning to prepare for the potential of damaging winds and flooding.

Residents were beginning to stock up on emergency supplies and equipment, but there was still not yet a sense of urgency, according to Matt Myers, assistant manager of Taylor’s Do-it Center and Paul Sanders, partner at Saunders Supplies.

“The panic switch hasn’t been flipped yet,” Myers said.

When storms start getting closer, the company starts to bring in extra employees to prepare for the masses. Among the most popular items are batteries, flashlights, tarps and generators, he said. Plywood for boarding up windows is the main thing people look for at Saunders Supply during a storm, Sanders said.

Generators already are in high demand. Taylor’s Do-it Center had sold out of generators on Thursday, Myers said, but the company hoped to get another shipment Friday.

“They’re going fast,” Joanna Erwin of Suffolk Pawn and Gun said of that company’s generator stock. The shop had two left on Thursday afternoon.