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GasBuddy says 43% of gas stations in Tampa/St. Petersburg are out of fuel
Hurricane Milton is one of the Atlantic Basin’s strongest storms on record
and the frenzy of evacuations in Florida, where it’s expected to make
landfall Wednesday evening, has led to shortages at nearly 16% of the
gasoline stations in Florida, according to GasBuddy.
Fuel shortages were seen at 15.79% of the state’s gas stations, or 7,912 stations, as of 11:10 am Eastern time Tuesday, according to GasBuddy, a
source for real-time fuel prices at gas stations in the U.S., Canada, and Australia.
It’s tough right now for evacuees, Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum
analysis at GasBuddy, told MarketWatch. Hundreds of thousands, if not
millions, of Floridians are trying to head north on the two major highways
so it’s a bit of a “challenging situation.”
The most shortages in the state were seen in the Tampa/St. Petersburg area
with around 43.06% of those gas stations without fuel, GasBuddy reported Tuesday. The Fort Myers/Naples area had 27.79%, and Gainesville 24.71%, of stations out of fuel.
Data from GasBuddy show that during past emergency declarations for
storms, the number of gas stations without fuel tends to reach its peak anywhere from day 4 to day 7 after the emergency declaration. President
Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration for Florida on Tuesday.
https://images.mktw.net/im-85439310?width=540&size=1.4533527696793003
Photo: GasBuddy
For those in search of fuel, particularly in Florida right now, De Haan
said motorists should try to target freeway exits or areas that have large travel stops — ones that have more resources to deliver that fuel on a
timely basis, he said.
Demand for fuel tends to spike sharply ahead of big storms — and Milton,
which intensified to as high as a Category 5 hurricane on Monday, with
maximum sustained wind speeds reportedly near 180 miles per hour, is a
monster.
On Tuesday morning, it was downgraded to a Category 4, but National
Hurricane Center expects it to remain an “extremely dangerous hurricane
through landfall in Florida” Wednesday night.
“The biggest issue right now is availability of gasoline and the
logistics,” said Denton Cinquegrana, chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service (OPIS), a subsidiary of MarketWatch publisher Dow
Jones.
The region was still dealing with the impact of Hurricane Helene, which
made landfall on the Florida Gulf Coast on Sept. 26, he said. All the
ports, such as Tampa, Fort Meyers, Manatee, St. Petersburg have all
closed, he said. “So no more deliveries of fuel can be made.”
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/hurricane-milton-drives-gas-demand-in- florida-with-16-of-stations-out-of-fuel-b4bf8efa
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