Long lines of car are seen at the BJ’s Wholesale Club gas station located at 7050 Coral Way in Miami, FL, due to a shortage of fuel resulting from the floods on April 12 that disrupted operations at Port Everglades, the Broward County facility that 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. On Tuesday April 18, 2023.
Pedro Portal
pportal@miamiherald.com
South Florida’s gas crunch marched into its sixth day with many empty gas stations and others with long lines as drivers hope their turn comes before pumps goes dry.
Historic 1-in-1,000 year flooding last week prevented petroleum companies from making deliveries from Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, which supplies about 40% of Florida’s gas.
But now that fuel trucks are again briskly leaving the port with gas, experts say South Florida drivers’ “panic-buying” of fuel is what may prolong the shortage.
“This is now a story of runaway panic-buying that is just unsustainable,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy.
Here’s a look at how the situation looked in Miami-Dade and Broward counties Tuesday:
Long lines of car are seen at the BJ’s Wholesale Club gas station located at 7050 Coral Way in Miami, FL, due to a shortage of fuel resulting from the floods on April 12 that disrupted operations at Port Everglades, the Broward County facility that 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. On Tuesday April 18, 2023. Pedro Portal pportal@miamiherald.com
Long lines of car are seen at the BJ’s Wholesale Club gas station located at 7050 Coral Way in Miami, FL, due to a shortage of fuel resulting from the floods on April 12 that disrupted operations at Port Everglades, the Broward County facility that 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. On Tuesday April 18, 2023. Pedro Portal pportal@miamiherald.com
Cars line up at a Marathon gas station on NW 20th St on Sunday, April 16, 2023, in Wynwood. Alie Skowronski askowronski@miamiherald.com
A sign on a pump indicates that doesn’t have gasoline at the Chevron gas station located at 17800 Collins Ave, in Sunny Isles Beach, Florida on Tuesday, April 18, 2023. David Santiago dsantiago@miamiherald.com
Vehicles line up to get fuel at the Mobil gas station located at 18300 Collins Avenue in Sunny Isles Beach, Florida on Tuesday, April 18, 2023. David Santiago dsantiago@miamiherald.com
Gas tankers line up at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on Tuesday, April 18, 2023. David Santiago dsantiago@miamiherald.com
Petroleum storage tanks are seen at Port Everglades n Fort Lauderdale, Florida on Tuesday, April 18, 2023. David Santiago dsantiago@miamiherald.com
Miami Herald Cops and Breaking News Reporter Devoun Cetoute covers a plethora of Florida topics, from breaking news to crime patterns. He was on the breaking news team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2022. He’s a graduate of the University of Florida, born and raised in Miami-Dade. Theme parks, movies and cars are on his mind in and out of the office.
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