Russia's Agriculture Ministry has reported shortages in 22 of the nation's 89 regions.

Refugees have reported shortages of food, water, electricity, fuel, medical supplies and cash in the western mountains.

Special education was badly affected, many schools were unable to keep a wide curriculum open and others reported shortages of basic equipment, including textbooks.

Many gasoline stations in the region reported shortages due to the preparations for Irene.

The rebound was particularly surprising given that contractors nationwide have been reporting shortages of both labor and building materials.

The first week I went to the chief engineer to report shortages in deliveries and he just looked at me.

Banks were notoriously secretive about reporting shortages or data management problems.

Hospitals around the country are reporting full-time shortages of registered nurses as high as 19 percent.

France's three major oil companies said that up to 80 percent of their stations were reporting shortages.

Newspaper articles have reported acute shortages of foodstuffs like sugar and flour.