Elizabeth Frazier grabbed the last bottles of water in sight, then left the store.

"It's a zoo in there," she said. "There's nothing left on the shelves," the Reading, Massachusetts, resident told CNN affiliate WHDH.

A gathering snowstorm is driving droves of New Englanders into shops to seize up the last supplies, then dash home to stock their cupboards, baton down the hatches and brace for a potentially long haul.