In Florida, gasoline in short supply

Outages reported as residents flee Irma

Gasoline shortages and long lines at the pump are spreading at stations throughout Florida as millions of residents flee Hurricane Irma.

Stations as far north as Tallahassee and even some in Georgia reported outages. Evacuees rushed to fuel up in a panic, emptying tanks at hundreds of stations.

Experts pleaded with drivers to fill up only when necessary, but the crisis might not have been preventable, Oil Price Information Service analyst Tom Kloza said.

“It’s chaos, as one would expect,” he said. “I think it will be a mild contagion that will spread up to coastal Georgia and maybe coastal South Carolina.”

“It’s chaos, as one would expect.” Oil Price Information Service analyst Tom Kloza

In Gainesville, it was the worst: At least 58% of stations were out of gasoline as of Friday morning, according to GasBuddy’s fuel tracker.

Drivers are “searching and searching and searching for gas,” GasBuddy petroleum analyst Patrick DeHaan said. “Those numbers are just very high. This is a real crisis.”

Florida Gov. Rick Scott acknowledged late Thursday that despite all the preparations, there wasn’t enough fuel to meet the public’s intense demand.

“I have directed state law enforcement to provide escort services to gas trucks to get through traffic, so they can get to the stations faster,” Scott said in Volusia County.

Analysts said national gas prices probably won’t budge because of Irma, unlike Hurricane Harvey.