The stress of evacuating from Hurricane Milton can be compounded for many by the anxiety of not being able to find gasoline.
But help is on the way, promises Gov. Ron DeSantis, who said the gas delays are not a “supply issue” but a “distribution issue.”
“The stations are running through it faster than they normally do. We have Florida Highway Patrol escorting these fuel trucks into the gas stations,” DeSantis said on “Fox & Friends” ahead of an official briefing at the Emergency Operations Center, where he explained more about the process, again maintaining there is no “fuel shortage.”
“We have been dispatching fuel over the past 24 hours as gas stations have run out so we currently have 268,000 gallons of diesel, 110,000 gallons of gasoline. Those numbers are less than what they were 24 hours ago because we’ve put a lot in, but we have an additional 1.2 million gallons of both diesel and gasoline that is currently en route to the state of Florida,” DeSantis promised.
The Governor noted that FHP escorted 27 fuel trucks on Monday night to replenish supply, given that “lines at gas stations have been long, gas stations are running out quicker than they otherwise would.”
“And so that is causing the state of Florida to help assist with the mission to be able to get fuel to the gas station so that Floridians have access,” he explained.
The state assumes that “significant damage” to the Port of Tampa, which is smack dab in the middle of the storm track, is imminent.
To that end, the Division of Emergency Management has been tasked with working to “continue bringing in fuel to the state subsequent to the impacts of the storm.”
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