Americans flood into Mexico in search of toilet paper, food, and water

TIJUANA — Desperate Californians are flooding into Northern Baja in search of water, toilet paper and other items.

An hour before the Costco in Tijuana opened Tuesday morning, there was already a line forming. Employees said that in recent days, by 10 a.m., there have been 600 people in line. They know this because the store only has 600 shopping carts and those have all been taken.

They also said it’s been busier than during the holiday season as people from north of the border continue their quest for items they can’t find in stores in cities like San Diego.

“It’s tough for us to come down here to get things, but we’re going to try it,” said Maria Castro, who lives in Los Angeles.

She said the Costco store in Fullerton, Calif., where she actually works, can’t keep up with the demand for water, bread and toilet paper, among other things.

Castro drove more than two hours to get to the Calimax Supermarket about a mile south of the border, where she found water, rice and beans.

Others like Carmen Jimenez, who lives in San Diego, left the same store with a trunk full of toilet paper, paper towels and more.

“It’s still not very bad right now here, they have a lot of products, they’re not selling you more than four packages of anything, four is the maximum,” said Jimenez.

One downside to this, according to the manager at the Calimax store, is that they are having a tough time keeping the shelves stocked with merchandise due to the crush of people from Southern California.

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