Gas distribution continues across Florida

Gas distribution chaos has started to slow down across Florida after the state was hit with two major hurricanes in as many weeks.

Floridians waited in long lines for gas and, in some cases, were unable to fuel up during the evacuation ahead of Hurricane Milton. Some were stranded on the highway for hours with little to no movement, only to eventually turn around or, by chance, be left stranded.

Hurricane Milton crossed central Florida last Wednesday and Thursday. Two weeks earlier, Hurricane Helene slammed into the Big Bend. The former was a Category 3, the latter a Category 4.

After Milton, more than 4 million people were left without power and the state narrowly avoided the "worst-case scenario" when the storm downgraded from a Category 5.

Now, efforts from state and local agencies are beginning to alleviate the already difficult situation.

GasBuddy, an online site that tracks gas prices, reported 13.6% of Florida's 7,915 gas stations were without gas as of Wednesday afternoon. These numbers have continued to decline as the days pass.

By metro, GasBuddy reported 39.1% of stations in the Tampa Sarasota, and St Petersburg areas were without gas. In Fort Myers and Naples, the number has decreased to 16.8%, while those in Orlando and Daytona Beach have 13.7% of stations without gas, and Gainesville has 12.4% of its stations without gas.

"The national average price of gasoline has returned to a slight climb over the last week as Iran's attack on Israel has slowly funneled to the gas pump, as expected," said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy in a statement. "For now, while Milton has left a third of all stations in Florida without gas, the storm itself is not impacting prices, and the situation in Florida is expected to improve."

This week, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis had trucks distributing gas across the state, successfully distributing 2.5 million gallons of gas, free of charge, to the people of Florida.

Desantis added that those in need could get up to 10 gallons free from fuel distribution sites in Plant City, Bradenton and St. Petersburg.

De Haan added, "With oil prices recently starting to fall again, the rise we saw could end before you know it. And with restoration happening in Florida, we could start to see a decline in gas prices in the weeks ahead, with a good chance of seeing the first sub-$3 per gallon national average since 2021."

Amid the chaos of responding to a second hurricane two weeks after Hurricane Helene hit, Democratic Chairwoman Nikki Fried called out the governor earlier this week on the lack of gas in the Tampa area.

She posted to social media, "major failure of Hurricane response from DeSantis. Little to no gas in Hillsborough & Pinellas. You want all the credit of preparedness but none of the responsibility when things aren't going well."

Georgia gas prices have remained lower than those in surrounding states. The average in Georgia is just $2.68 a gallon, the lowest since 2021, posted De Haan on X.