Florida Residents Face Fuel Crunch as Hurricane Approaches

As Florida braces for the impact of Hurricane Milton, residents faced long queues and dwindling gas supplies at stations, increasing stress levels. Governor Ron DeSantis assured the public during a Tuesday news conference that sufficient fuel would be available. "We currently have 268,000 gallons of diesel, 110,000 gallons of gasoline. Those numbers are less than what they were 24 hours ago ... but we have an additional 1.2 million gallons of both diesel and gasoline that is currently en route," DeSantis noted, emphasizing there was no shortage despite the noticeable scarcity at pumps.

GasBuddy analyst Patrick De Haan confirmed "replenishments are happening," but about 16.5% of Florida stations were out of fuel as of Tuesday afternoon; a day earlier that figure was 3.5%. More than 43% of the stations in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area had no gas as of late Tuesday morning, per GasBuddy.

Ned Bowman from the Florida Petroleum Marketers Association described the fuel demand peak as typical for a Florida hurricane, with suppliers working "constantly" to replenish stations. AAA urged drivers to keep an eye their fuel levels and avoid letting tanks get too low before looking for a gas station. DeSantis said that driving long distances wasn't necessary: "You do not have to get on the interstate and go far away. You can evacuate tens of miles, you do not have to evacuate hundreds of miles away. You do have options." (This story was generated by Newser's AI chatbot. Source: the AP)