WEATHER
Why is there a gas shortage in south Florida and how long will it last?
Freak storms in the southern state led to a round of panic buying, causing more than half of gas stations to be closed.
Fuel shortages in southern Florida look like they will be subsiding in the coming days as the fallout from the extreme rainfall begins to fade away.
The sunshine state had been bombarded with floods throughout the week. On Wednesday this week around 20 inches (50cm) of water fell on Fort Lauderdale alone. The airport was forced to close for two days.
This led to a large amount of panic buying as residents flooded into gas stations to try and beat the weather. Around 55% of gas stations in Miami and Fort Lauderdale were without fuel on Thursday morning, according to GasBuddy.
Due to the nature of the panic buying, it seems like there will be no long-lasting issues for consumers once stocks are refilled.
“[T]here’s plenty of supply, but amidst intense panic buying, there’s no way to make much progress, especially since there’s a limited amount of capacity at the Port right now due to pump failure,” Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy, tweeted.
How long will the shortage last?
De Haan expects most of the closed stations to be reopened by the weekend. Tom Kloza, global head of energy analysis for OPIS, which tracks gas prices for AAA, agrees.
“Stations have very shallow inventories of gasoline. Most need a delivery every two or three days,” he said. “But just as those shallow inventories can run out very quickly, they can be refilled very quickly. This too shall pass.”
Panic buying also increases the likelihood of consumers filling up their tanks to the maximum, increasing the amount of time necessary before refilling again.