What’s behind Miami’s gas shortage? More fuel is on the way, but woes may continue
HOWARD COHEN, LINDA ROBERTSON, AND OMAR RODRÍGUEZ ORTIZ | UPDATED APRIL 19, 2023 12:13 PM“This is now a story of runaway panic-buying that is just unsustainable,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. “It’s kind of like designing houses for a 1,000-year flood, so to speak. These are extremely rare. And now it’s kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy. Motorists have been encountering lines, they’ve been getting panicked. They have no idea how to respond. And just like during the Colonial Pipeline [cyberattack] situation in 2021, and during hurricanes Harvey and Irma, back in 2017, motorists are now straining the system to the point that it’s going to be impossible for the system to work in the way it was designed,” he said Tuesday in a phone interview with the Miami Herald. Of course, it is not all panic buying. Some motorists waiting in line have empty tanks and need to replenish to get their children to school. Or to power their cabs, Ubers or delivery trucks. Lines started forming by the weekend, a couple days after authorities said that the Fort Lauderdale storms and resulting floods on April 12 disrupted operations at Port Everglades.
The Broward County facility is the hub for about 40% of the gasoline into Florida and serves 12 counties south of Lake Okeechobee, including Miami-Dade, Broward, the Keys and Palm Beach County. By 11 a.m. Tuesday morning, with additional petroleum companies opening overnight Monday and Tuesday, the majority that handle gas — eight out of 11 — are now operating, said Joy Oglesby, a spokeswoman for Port Everglades and Ellen Kennedy, the director of external affairs for the port. . . .
. . . Over 500,000 gallons of fuel is making its way to South Florida to ease the fuel crunch.
Orchestrated by the Florida Division of Emergency Management, the first set of trucks are expected to arrive at gas stations Tuesday night and the rest on Wednesday. The fuel is coming from Port Canaveral and Tampa, which emergency management has been pulling from since Friday to help aid the flooded Port Everglades when torrential downpour hit. Emergency management has also deployed over 20 industrial vacuum trucks, water pumps and other water mitigation assets to de-flood Broward. Miami-Dade is also working with the state and federal governments to restore gas distribution, and helped with Tampa and Port Canaveral sending fuel, county Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said in a statement Tuesday.
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/article274439425.html
