Hurricane Milton leaves thousands of Florida gas stations without fuel

Nearly 2,000 gas stations throughout Florida are out of fuel less than a day after Hurricane Milton slammed the state as a Category 3 storm. 

According to GasBuddy data, about 25% of the nearly 8,000 stations in the state are out of gasoline.  

As of Thursday morning, Tampa and St. Petersburg have the highest concentrated outages at nearly 63%, followed by Sarasota at about 44%, according to GasBuddy data. 

About 37% of stations in Fort Myers and Naples and 36.5% of stations in Gainesville are out of fuel, the data shows.

HURRICANE MILTON HAMPERS GASOLINE SUPPLY CHAIN

Gas shortages were reported at stations in parts of central Florida earlier this week as residents in the area filled up their tanks and hit the road for destinations outside of Milton's path. Others stocked up on gasoline to fuel generators that would be relied upon in the event of a power outage.

Lipow Oil Associates President Andy Lipow told FOX Business that "things might get a little bit worse before they get better as the consumer will be headed to the gas station to fill up sooner than resupply will come into the area."  

Lipow believes gasoline stations will be running dry for the next day or so, but things will get better by next week, and the arrival schedule for tanker ships will be back to normal. Florida typically receives about two-and-a-half tankers per day carrying gasoline, jet fuel and diesel fuel. 

"Consumers went out and filled up their tanks in advance of the storm, accelerating demand. They will probably be at home the next few days and won’t have to fill up again for a while," Lipow said.

HURRICANE MILTON DRIVES GAS SHORTAGE IN FLORIDA AS RESIDENTS FLEE STORM

Florida Highway Patrol Troopers already escorted fuel trucks from Port Tampa and SeaPort Manatee to fueling stations around the Tampa area throughout Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. 

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Lipow said more tankers, each carrying over 10 million gallons, are on their way. One tanker is expected in Tampa on Thursday evening. Two tankers are expected to show up in the Miami area on Friday, followed by another on Saturday, according to Lipow. He further noted that Fort Myers gets some of its supplies from the Miami area. 

FOX Business' Eric Revell contributed to this report.