Food, ice hard to come by in Savannah in wake of Matthew

A pregnant woman, with her infant daughter in tow, had one question as she sat down to order take-out from one of the few open restaurants in Savannah.

“What do you order at a Mexican restaurant,” she said to the bartender. “I usually just come to Mexican restaurants to drink margaritas. But as you can see, I can’t do that anymore.”

She ordered chicken nachos.

She was one of the lucky ones. As Savannah residents continued to file back into the hurricane ravaged city – 71 percent of the residents are said to have evacuated because of Matthew – food and ice were hard to find.

As a by-product of power still being out in several parts of the city – including streetlights and traffic signals — many shops and restaurants remained closed Monday.

The few fast food restaurants that remained open along Abercorn closed their dining rooms early in favor of the drive-thru. They all had lines that stretched out into the busy streets.

Several sit down restaurants closed early, and those that remained open – like the Waffle House – were packed and hectic all night. Grocery stores also closed early/