NAPLES, Fla. — According to Gas Buddy, 45 percent of gas stations in the Fort Myers-Naples, Florida, area don’t have gasoline. That is down from a peak of 52 percent Saturday in the wake of Hurricane Ian. Experts believe it will take about a week for the supply to catch up.
Gas Buddy has an online tracker showing which filling stations have gasoline. You can access the site on your phone, tablet, or computer by visiting the organization’s website.
Fox 4 Now reached out to several large gasoline stations in our area. WaWa said all of its gasoline stations in Southwest Florida are open. It does not expect any further outages, but admits not all grades of gasoline are available at each gas station.
RaceTrac said only eight of its 119 Florida stores remain closed. It has a dispatch team tracking inventory levels at each station and delivery drivers bringing in gasoline around the clock. RaceTrac said road damage delayed some deliveries Saturday, extra deliverers were expected Sunday. You can see RaceTrac’s availability on its website.
A Florida law after Hurricane Wilma in 2005 requires certain stations along evacuation routes and companies with multiple stations in one county to install transfer switches and generators so pumps will work even if power is cut off.
Across Southwest Florida, Fox 4 Now saw varying lengths of lines. The Circle K at Pine Ridge Road and I-75 rarely had a line. The RaceTrac at Del Prado Boulevard and Veterans Parkway in Cape Coral had a nearly 2 mile long line of customers. Rodney Hollingsworth was in the line. It took more than four hours to get to the pump. He needs the gasoline to power a generator at this home, which is without electricity.
“We’re trying to use as little power as we can, and save as much as we can save,” Hollingsworth said.
David Castillo waited in an even longer line Thursday to get gasoline for his generator. The Cape Coral resident decided to drive 40 minutes to Naples, where there was no line Sunday.
“I’ve been through Charley, Wilma, Irma, this is absolutely the worst gas situation we’ve seen,” Castillo said.
Many filling stations are only accepting cash.
