The state offered residents 10 free gallons of gas; many stations still lack fuel.

October 15, 2024

Hurricane Milton made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane in Florida last week, creating major damage just weeks after Hurricane Helene hit the state.

On October 12, local news station Fox 13 reported that Governor Ron DeSantis said, “nearly 90% of all stop signals have been repaired, all major highways and bridges have reopened, all airports except the Sarasota-Bradenton Airport have reopened and 18 closed school districts are slated to reopen Monday.”

The state was facing a gas shortage, however, and DeSantis announced that the state would provide up to 10 gallons of free gas to any resident who needed it from three gas distribution sites along Florida’s western coast, according to Fox 13.

The three gas distribution sites were in Plant City, Bradenton, and St. Petersburg, with more sites planned.

"Normally, Florida like most states is self-service," DeSantis said. "This is full-service, you don't have to get out of your car. It's like being in New Jersey, you pull up and these guys pump your gas for you ... and we do have a lot of fuel flowing in the normal private sector. We are helping with fuel escorts to be able to get those to the gas stations as quickly as possible."

The Ledger reported last week that DeSantis said the state put 400,000 gallons of diesel into the supply chain and 500,000 gallons of gasoline, and 31 sites for emergency fuel distribution for first responders, health care workers and other critical personnel.

“These public fuel sites, although we have done fuel support in the past, we've never done it to this scale, and that is on top of the amount of fuel that we provided directly to service stations,” DeSantis said.

The state’s gasoline and diesel are delivered by truck or ship from domestic and international sources. More than 43% of Florida’s petroleum moves through Port Tampa Bay, which was directly hit by the hurricane.

The Florida Highway Patrol escorted fuel shipments from the Port of Tampa Bay and Port Canaveral to service stations around the region, and DeSantis said that if gas stations needed generators to help pump the gas delivered, the state was ready to provide them.

The Sarasota Herald-Tribune on October 13 quoted DeSantis as saying, “The state has available gas supply, but that high demand continues to dwindle supplies at convenience stores that are in operation while others remain without power or are simply still closed.”

Milton is the third hurricane to impact the Manatee County area in some way since August, reported the Herald-Tribune.

Prior to the hurricane hitting, demand surged for gas as people began to evacuate their homes. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Florida does not have any refineries or gasoline pipelines that connect it to states with excess supply.

According to CNN, hundreds of gas stations in the state still don’t have gas, but relief is expected soon as vessels carrying gas will reach Tampa in the next several days.