HOLLYWOOD, FLA. (WSVN) - As Broward County residents continued in their struggle for relief after days of torrential rainfall in South Florida, drivers in Miami-Dade and Broward counties will soon find relief, as gas tankers filled up and made deliveries to several gas stations following days of fuel shortages.
Officials said that in addition to the 24-hour operation at Port Everglades to get the pumps back to normal, they are also deploying additional fuel trucks coming from Port Canaveral and Tampa to help with the demand.
A Shell gas station located on Davie and Andrews that had run out of gas earlier received a delivery. On Tuesday night residents slowly started to make a line to get gas.
“This is your first try?” asked 7News. “Yeah, I got lucky. Seriously, I got lucky,” said a woman as she pumped gas.
Long lines continue to grow day and night from Miami-Dade to Broward.
“We’ve been waiting like 45 minutes, maybe more. Since there are many exits, people are getting in, and no one is respecting the line,” said a man at a Shell.
That is not a problem at a Shell in North Bay Village, as police directed drivers to the pumps.
“We continue to make improvements,” said Jonathan Daniels, now that eight out of 12 pumps at the port have come online.
Daniels wanted to assure the public that this is a 24/7 operation and that they aren’t shutting down until they get back to capacity.
“I feel like I won the lottery,” said Estefania Lacoa.
Another woman said she would not have been able to get to work if she didn’t get fuel in her vehicle, but after driving around the area, she finally got lucky at a BJ’s located on Northwest 57th Avenue.
“It has been crazy,” said Lacoa. “My husband had to Uber home yesterday because he couldn’t find gas anywhere.”
She said she had to drive her husband to work since his car is still without gas.
Another woman said she drove around for 20 minutes until she found fuel.
All of the gasoline that comes to Southeastern Florida comes from Port Everglades, but the flooding in the terminals caused an overflow of water in the fuel pumps.
On Monday, the Mayor of Broward County, Lamar Fisher, assured the community that the weekend’s gas shortage was not due to a lack of fuel but, rather, a delay caused by the recent floods that drenched South Florida.
“I think it’s also important to understand that once the flooding occurred and everything shut down for a period of time, that was 2,400 to 2,600 trucks that did not go in,” said Fisher, “so it’s not only a supply, but it’s also a catch-up.”
According to the Gas Buddy app, roughly 60% of gas stations do not have fuel on Tuesday. The app allows you to see what stations have gas in your area.
Officials are asking drivers to refrain from hoarding gasoline as there is plenty of supply coming into the gas stations.
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