People crowded in front of a shop in downtown Baghdad. Fists clenched with bills wave to catch the attention of the clerk selling plastic bags used to hold water.

Proprietor Zuhair Yassine had a bright idea. He had plastic bags, which normally are used for exporting dates, made at a local factory and hung one in his shop window, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Looking out from his office on Khuleifa St., one of the city's main commercial thoroughfares, Yassine says, "In the last three days, I have sold a half-ton and every night I restock at the factory."

Demand was so strong that the Baghdad entrepreneur had to lower the metal shutters to prevent a run on his store by eager customers.

"The temperature is rising, the war is coming. I don't have the money to buy a tank so it's the most practical solution," said Kazem, a civil servant.

Outside, a man pays a dollar for 80 bags, each capable of holding 10 liters (two gallons) of water.

Petrol stations in Baghdad were also taken by storm over the weekend with interminable lines snarling traffic.

"People have been coming to fill up their tanks and the place has been full since then," said Ahmad, who pumps gas at the Abu Khalil service station in the Hay al-Adel district.

Business is booming on Sayed Sultan Ali street too, where the generator shops are based. Moyed says he has sold four a day since the end of last week.

However, the price is high in this country where the average salary is 30 dollars per month.

Following the “Azores war summit” Sunday between the U.S., Britain and Spain, in which the allies said the time has come to disarm Iraq, Iraqis are convinced that the days before a war were numbered.

U.S. President George W. Bush was to issue an ultimatum to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to leave or face war during a televised address Monday night, Secretary of State Colin Powell said.

"He clearly will issue an ultimatum to Saddam Hussein," Powell told a Washington press conference. "The moment of truth has arrived."

"The three kilovolt generator costs 350 dollars and the eight kilovolt 500 dollars. Generally family members or people living in the same building pitch in together to buy one," Moyed said, adding that the price had gone up in the past few days by 20 percent.

The denizens of Baghdad are war veterans, after the 1980-1988 war with Iran and 1991 Gulf conflict over Kuwait, as well as the US-British bombing raids in 1998.

They know the first targets will be the power stations and without electricity, the water supply will quickly dwindle.

This resource is the most precious in the capital and the price for six bottles of water has nearly doubled recently, to 1.20 dollars from 75 cents.

"I got a shipment of 100 this morning and all of them were gone in a few minutes," said Ali Darwash, owner of the Sayed al-Halib supermarket in the Mansour neighborhood.