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North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper urges people to remain vigilant as Hurricane Florence approaches the Carolina coast, despite changing forecasts. (September 13)
AP
A sign on the pump at the EnMarket gas station on Tunnel Road in East Asheville indicated that there was no more unleaded gasoline before noon Thursday.(Photo: Angeli Wright/[email protected])
ASHEVILLE – It has become much more difficult to find gas for sale in the region on Wednesday and Thursday, but people watching the industry say the problems should be temporary.
They said on Thursday that supplies were still ok, but customers were buying gas so quickly that delivery trucks are struggling to keep up. Many stations remained without gas Thursday afternoon, after only a few failures were reported Wednesday morning.
The problem is not expected to last, although some disruption may occur when Hurricane Florence travels to western North Carolina in a few days.
"Some gas stations that might not have it right now could easily have it tomorrow, depending on the delivery schedule," said Tiffany Wright, spokeswoman for AAA Carolinas. "It's the panic that redeems and it's unfortunate. We are sometimes our worst enemies.
More: Scattered gas shortages have been reported in the WNC as Hurricane Florence approaches
1 million people in NC flee because of Hurricane Florence, according to the governor
Some stores in Ingles Markets did not have access to gasoline on Thursday, but CFO Ron Freeman said company officials "expect the blackouts to be temporary at all sites."
"We get regular deliveries, but the demand exceeds these deliveries in some areas. Clogged roads further slow down some of our fuel deliveries, "said Freeman.
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Plastic bags at the Reynolds Valley market pumps said they had no gas on Thursday noon. (Photo: Angeli Wright/[email protected])
Colonial Pipeline, probably the largest source of gasoline for North Carolina and South Carolina, said the pipeline is working normally.
Freeman hoped the gas race would not last long.
"There is no shortage of fuel, so we hope that delivery times and buying habits will soon be back to normal," he said.
Gas prices in Asheville have changed little.
AAA said the average retail price of a gallon of regular products was $ 2,781, the same as Wednesday. It's only four tenths of a cent more than a week ago and about a cent less than the same month of August.
The national average of $ 686 per gallon was 1.4 cents higher than Wednesday and 1.7 cents higher than the previous week.
Memories of past hurricanes in which it was difficult to find gas seem to have caused some people at WNC to fill their tanks earlier than usual. Visitors here for the World Equestrian Games or to evacuate the coastal areas before Hurricane Florence also increase demand.
"This is the direct result of Florence and the success of people," Wright said.
There have been reports of stations running out of gas in various locations around the state, but any interruption of fuel supply should be brief, Wright said.
Unlike past storms, Florence leaves refineries intact
Experts in the oil and gas industry have quickly pointed out that Florence is different from most of the hurricanes that hit WNC.
Past memorable storms have generally shifted from the north to the mountains after landing on the Gulf Coast, where many refineries and oil wells are located.
The damage they cause to these facilities in the south sometimes decreases the gasoline supply in most of the eastern United States, including the WNC.
But Florence is heading east from the region. It could close fuel terminals in Wilmington and Charleston, South Carolina – AAA Carolinas says there are at least five cities in both cities combined – but they do not play a big role in providing WNC.
The Plantation Pipe Line follows a course similar to the Colonial and is another important source of gas for the WNC, North Carolina and South Carolina. AAA Carolinas said that the pipeline could stop temporarily in case of power failure.
"At this point, we do not anticipate any supply disruption," Scott Shealy, director of the Asheville-based distribution company Citizens Fuel, said Wednesday.
"Unless something unusual happens, we should be okay unless the panic buying starts," Shealy said.
Apparently, after Shealy spoke. But there are very few gas tanks to fill at WNC and experts were still optimistic about how quickly gas deliveries could catch up with demand.
Wright said Florence would disrupt gas station operations and tank truck deliveries everywhere, but that in most cases, pumps and trucks will soon be in service.
State officials said that a million people were evacuated from coastal areas. All this trip has created more demand for gas than usual.
Wright said there were "pretty bad" supply issues in the Carolinas' coastal areas. The inhabitants naturally fill their vehicles before leaving, she said.
Resupplying the coast could also weigh on the gas distribution system after the Florence crossing, she said, but she also does not expect these effects to last long.
"If you're sitting at home right now and your tank is in" E ", you should probably go for gas," said Wright.
But she said that the long lines reported in some stations elsewhere in the state were the result of an "instinctive reaction" and were "really useless".
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