Hurricane Harvey

[W2R]

Some without gas are closed, many are still open but I'm not sure why. The only traffic they see are people slowly cruising by the pumps to see if there is a bag over the pump handle...

That's what I meant - - out of gas, not closed. Oops. My online friend on another forum said that in San Antonio, her DH had to drive around for quite a while before he could find any gas.

I just assumed that a gas station with no gas would be closed. Apparently not!

I have not seen even one gas station without gas here, thank goodness. We plan to drive less and conserve gas until the problem with gas availability in Texas is resolved. Besides, we are retired so no need to battle traffic; our "pleasure drives" have not been as pleasurable lately as they once were.

 

[REWahoo]

That's what I meant - - out of gas, not closed. Oops. My online friend on another forum said that in San Antonio, her DH had to drive around for quite a while before he could find any gas.

To see the extent of the problem, zoom into San Antonio on this Gas Buddy link until the red (no gas) and green (got gas) icons show up...

GasBuddy Gasoline Availability Tracker

 

[Car-Guy]

Some without gas are closed, many are still open but I'm not sure why. The only traffic they see are people slowly cruising by the pumps to see if there is a bag over the pump handle...

I was in Southeast Houston yesterday helping friends. It looked like about half of the stations in that area were open. I didn't see any lines at the open stations but most were "busy". All the freeways I drove on were clear, open and running at posted level speeds. I saw a lot of damaged homes in the SE area but more homes appeared to be okay than damaged. The worse areas I saw had "stuff" (furniture, carpet, appliances, sheetrock, etc) stacked in front of their houses 8 to 10 ft high. Those streets looked like a war zone.

 

[aja8888]

I drove by 4 or 5 gas stations near us on the north side of Houston this morning. All were pumping gasoline with only a few cars in the station.

 

[jazz4cash]

Another ripple effect of Hurricane Harvey:



72 percent of San Antonio gas stations out of fuel as panic continues



Some 450 of the over 600 gas stations in the city reported being out of fuel Friday evening.



This could get ugly if the kinks and bottlenecks in the distribution system doesn't get worked out soon. Reminds me of the Arab Oil Embargo of the 1970's.

I was wondering if any shortages were due to power outages preventing the stations from pumping. No evidence of that. Looks like hoarding is one issue, but if there is no requirement to limit purchases (rationing), I don't blame anyone for filling their tank even though 10 gal might be all they need to get by until supply is normal. Interesting that GasBuddy.com is the main source of the data for this report. The prices reported for Sat are same as around here on the East coast. 2.39/gal today up from 2.15 ten dates ago.

 

[REWahoo]

The prices reported for Sat are same as around here on the East coast. 2.39/gal today up from 2.15 ten dates ago.

Local prices are up $0.50 to $0.60/gal since Harvey hit.

 

[audreyh1]

Apparently a few days ago there was a social media frenzy spreading a false rumor of gasoline shortages in the Rio Grande Valley and a bunch of folks ran out and waited in long lines to fill up.

And in spite of public service announcements on TV news, etc., that there was no such shortage.

 

[REWahoo]

Apparently a few days ago there was a social media frenzy spreading a false rumor of gasoline shortages in the Rio Grande Valley and a bunch of folks ran out and waited in long lines to fill up.

And in spite of public service announcements on TV news, etc., that there was no such shortage.

That's exactly what happened here, in Dallas and in many other Texas towns. Still going on here when the word gets out a station got in a shipment of fuel - although the lines are not as long.

 

[Another Reader]

Long before the oil embargoes, my father was adamant about keeping all the cars full of gas. His theory was that we lived in wildfire and earthquake country. We might have to evacuate with little notice or there would be no gas delivered or electricity to run the pumps after an earthquake. You filled up at 3/4 tank, or worst case, maybe after a long trip, 1/2. Half a tank meant you went to the gas station ASAP. It did not matter how many cars were in the garage or on the street, they all had to be full.

I lived dangerously when I was young, letting the warning light come on before filling up, but these days I find myself at Costco or Safeway gas stations a lot more often.

 

[audreyh1]

That's exactly what happened here, in Dallas and in many other Texas towns. Still going on here when the word gets out a station got in a shipment of fuel - although the lines are not as long.

Hmmmm - interesting!

 

[Just_Steve]

Long before the oil embargoes, my father was adamant about keeping all the cars full of gas. His theory was that we lived in wildfire and earthquake country. We might have to evacuate with little notice or there would be no gas delivered or electricity to run the pumps after an earthquake. You filled up at 3/4 tank, or worst case, maybe after a long trip, 1/2. Half a tank meant you went to the gas station ASAP. It did not matter how many cars were in the garage or on the street, they all had to be full.

I lived dangerously when I was young, letting the warning light come on before filling up, but these days I find myself at Costco or Safeway gas stations a lot more often.

I agree with your father for the most part, I'm a confirmed 1/2 tanker, 3/4 is to often to be filling up.

 

[Breedlove]

Drove to Waco and back , had no problem buying gas ...paid 2.19 where I had been paying 2.12 .

On the way back stopped in Hempstead . There is a giant area that used to be a car lot now abandoned . It is being used by the U S Army for their Choppers . When we were there we seen 6 choppers sitting . The guys were getting ready to eat dinner . Kind of shocking the soldiers made it plain they were active duty out of El Paso . DW got plenty of pics of the choppers.

 

[Breedlove]

How about JJ Watt and Mattress Mac . These guys are bringing in the contributions . I think JJ hit 25 million!

Really glad we have folks like that in the community.

 

[RunningBum]

I just assumed that a gas station with no gas would be closed. Apparently not!

They probably still hope to sell drinks and snacks and whatever else they carry in the store. Or maybe they have diesel still available. Or maybe they are expecting a gas delivery sometime that day.

 

[REWahoo]

A couple of examples of why we have a gas shortage. Note the idiot filling garbage cans...

 

[txtig]

How about JJ Watt and Mattress Mac . These guys are bringing in the contributions . I think JJ hit 25 million!

Really glad we have folks like that in the community.

+1000. Mac was giving out his personal cell phone number on the local TV stations and telling people to give him a call if they needed anything. That guy is, and has always been, there for Houston. For those not familiar with him, he owns two gigantic furniture stores in Houston. He opened both of them as public shelters for evacuees. He set up sleeping areas for families using his brand new furnitures / mattresses!! A truly great American. And as for JJ, that is one great kid. Geaux Texans!! My wife is in love with him. Luckily for me, she is a bit old for him.

 

[meierlde]

They probably still hope to sell drinks and snacks and whatever else they carry in the store. Or maybe they have diesel still available. Or maybe they are expecting a gas delivery sometime that day.

Actually how many true old fashioned gas stations are left. Today most convenience stores sell gas on the side, so even with no gas they have a lot of stuff to sell.

 

[Car-Guy]

false rumor of gasoline shortages in the Rio Grande Valley and a bunch of folks ran out and waited in long lines to fill up.

And in spite of public service announcements on TV news, etc., that there was no such shortage.

How could anyone doubt what the "news" was telling them?

 

[jazz4cash]

I went out today and noticed unl ref is 2.69 vs 2.39 I reported yesterday. My neighborhood generally runs .10/gal cheaper than other areas around DC.

 

[Teacher Terry]

WE are taking a cruise on Sun and they are saying the new hurricane could hit anywhere between Florida, Maine, News Brunswick. I know if it is close the cruise line will alter the route but of course I picked this cruise for the ports. It is a little thing compared to what others have suffered but I am hoping that it goes as planned.

 

[aja8888]

I filled up this morning at a local Shell station in The Woodlands. $2.19 for 87 octane.

Yes, JJ and Mattress Mac are stand up guys. One reason why this state grows on you (I am a native Connecticut Yankee but now a card carrying Texan ).

 

[Teacher Terry]

Those guys made the national news for letting people sleep in their store. Awesome!

 

[Texas Proud]

Went to Home Depot today to get some handles for a bath redo....

More than the usual amount of people...

But, coming home I passed one of the creeks that overflowed... the first two streets on one side of the bayou were just lined with the guts of the houses... you could see how the street was sloping down to the creek...

On the other side I could only see one street as the rest of the road is the back of houses and fenced... the one street looked the same... I think a number of these people were flooded out last year... horrible to live through...

I asked the guy who runs the body shop we take our cars and he said the gs station next to his business was flooded.... it used to be a Geico shop and they had dirt trucked in to build it higher... so he did not get flooded...

 

[akck]

We finally managed to fly out of Houston and get back home today. We could've gotten back a day or tw0 earlier, but with 3 flight cancellations, I wanted to be sure we wouldn't have a 4th.

As for gas, I filled up the rental before the flood and paid $1.949/gallon at Costco. After the roads drained, I paid $1.999 at the same Costco. I topped off the rental near the airport and paid $2.499, but only had to put around $5 in the tank. Most stations in the Pearland area bumped up prices 10-20 cents, unless they were competing with a nearby chain store such as Kroger.

 

[audreyh1]

A couple of examples of why we have a gas shortage. Note the idiot filling garbage cans...

Finally made it back home from Amsterdam this evening after flight cancellations and a four day delay waiting for flights through IAH to resume. No problem spending a few extra days in Holland!

Nothing at the house so we decided to run out to grab some grocery essentials. Car was at 1/4 tank. Usually we top off the car before a long trip, but things conspired to leave us low this time and I remembered that a few days ago when I started reading about people panicking about shortages at gas stations.

No lines, plenty of open pumps at the several gas stations around. Gas was uniformly $2.39 everywhere. Oh yeah - HEB only had lowest grade unleaded gasoline available, not the higher gasoline grades.

So I guess the "panic" was short-lived here in the Rio Grande Valley. I think I read it only lasted one day.

Now I just have to call Escapees in Livingston TX to forward our collected mail. They shut down for a few days last week since the North Houston USPS was closed.