This week, New Orleans has been hit with a water supply emergency. Here, the supply of clean drinking water has been tainted with saltwater. As a result, supplies are scarce compared to usual. In a sad but rather predictable move, this has led to panic buying and now shops are cashing in. The image below shows water at a Best Buy store in New Orleans. Here, 12 bottles of Smartwater are being sold for $29.98, while 24 packs of bottled water are being sold at $42.96.

Interestingly, it looks as though a 24-pack of Nestle water bottles can be purchased on Amazon for as little as $16.25. This shows a huge price discrepancy compared to the stock on show at Best Buy.

The image was originally shared on Reddit. Here, one user responded to these prices with shock, writing: “$42.96? Dude they need to be reported for this. They probably cleaned out Costco to do this.”

As of right now, it is not known when the water supply will return to normal. However, until then it looks like these sights will become even more common and normal. Based on this, it looks as though some people haven’t learned since the whole toilet paper debacle of 2020. With this in mind, hopefully the New Orleans water supply returns to normal soon.