Gas stations were running low on fuel and the roads were crowded for Floridians who fled Hurricane Milton Tuesday.
“Every highway seems to be at a standstill,” said Chris Cain. He was preparing to leave Sanibel Island with his girlfriend and eight-month-old child on Tuesday. Cain explained that there are fuel shortages in the entire area. The couple had booked a hotel 20 miles away earlier this week.
Early Tuesday, Hurricane Milton, a Category 4 hurricane with winds up to 145 mph, moved eastward as it passed just north of the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. Milton is expected to make landfall on Thursday morning.
As Floridians and residents of the Gulf Coast try to recover from Hurricane Helene, this storm arrives.
Patrick De Haan is the head of Petroleum Analysis at GasBuddy. As of Tuesday evening, 1,146 of Florida’s 7,912 gasoline stations had no fuel. Fort Meyers/Naples, Tampa/St. Petersburg and Fort Meyers/Naples are hardest hit. The percentages are much higher in the Fort Meyers/Naples and Tampa/St. De Haan reported that up to 50% of Cape Coral’s stations had no fuel.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis tried to calm fears about fuel supplies by stating at a news briefing on Tuesday that “there is no shortage of fuel.” Fuel is still arriving in Florida.”
It may not be much comfort to drivers who report empty fuel tanks.
De Haan stated, “You can’t say to someone standing outside a gas station with no fuel there is no shortage.”
He added that the problem is not a lack of fuel but rather a system of refueling that can’t keep pace with demand. “Some of these bigger brands, if they run low, it may only be for an hour or so — but other stations might be without fuel for 24 hours.”
Gas Buddy, an American technology company that tracks gas prices and locations across the U.S. as of 11:10 am ET, reported the following percentages of stations without fuel in major Florida cities. The percentage of Florida stations that were without fuel at 11:10 a.m. ET was as follows:
- Fort Myers/Naples: 27.79%
- Gainesville: 24.71%
- Jacksonville: 1.55%
- Miami/Fort Lauderdale: 1.05%
- Pensacola: 0.57%
- Orlando/Daytona Beach: 14.68%
- Panama City: 0.00%
- Tallahassee: 2.06%
- Tampa/St. Petersburg: 43.06%
- West Palm Beach: 1,51%
De Haan says that those who don’t have an immediate need for gasoline shouldn’t rush to fill up. He said that this event would not cause gas prices to skyrocket.
Cain recalls a chaotic scene that occurred earlier this week in Fort Myers Beach at Walmart as residents prepared for the storm. Cain said that people were tearing cases of water from pallets when they were brought to the back of the shop.
