ALEXANDRIA, Va. - As Hurricane Isaac ripped through Louisiana with torrential rains and high winds causing power outages, flooding and evacuations, stories are emerging about how local convenience stores are doing their best to continue to serve their communities.

NACS Magazine contributing writer Al Hebert, a Louisiana resident and founder of GasStationGourmet.com, spoke to several convenience store operators in his area who are working to ensure residents have access to food and fuel. What he found was that when disaster strikes, many convenience stores will stay open as long as there is power and conditions are safe.

One such store is Sammy's Country Store, located in Vermilion Parish, not far from Louisiana's Gulf Coast. This small c-store is receiving deliveries (shown above) as Hurricane Isaac pounds New Orleans.Sammy€™s is no stranger to hurricane season €" the store actually stocks utility poles. When heavy hurricane winds tear down power lines, poles and the boxes that connect the electric service to homes are a necessity to restoring power. Owner Sammy Broussard doesn€™t sell a lot of these poles throughout the year, but after a storm he€™s often the only retailer open for business who is selling this important item.

Utility poles sold at Sammy€™s Country Store, from the September 2011 issue of NACS Magazine.

Ray€™s Quick Stop in Maurice, Louisiana, is another example. At 4:00 am on Tuesday, the store received a delivery of 20,000 gallons of fuel. By the time the store closed for the evening, the pumps were dry.

NBC News reports that by Wednesday afternoon, new evacuations were ordered as Hurricane Isaac caused one levee outside New Orleans to overtop and threatened others. Inside New Orleans, levees and pumps were protecting the city from widespread flooding, but Isaac had cut power to a third of Louisiana's households and was expected to lash the state with heavy rain and winds into Friday.

CNN reported that by midday Wednesday, with the storm "not even half over," 725,000 customers were without power in Arkansas, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas because of Hurricane Isaac.