The governors of Florida, Virginia and Georgia all declared states of emergency Tuesday in a bid to protect fuel supplies, with some gas pumps already dry in Atlanta and other cities, as the impact from the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack continues to ripple across the country – hitting the Southeast especially hard.
Panic buyers streamed into gas stations across the Southeast as the key pipeline that supplies the area was threatened by the attack.
More than 1,000 gas stations in the Southeast are now running out of fuel, according to S&P’s Oil Price Information Service.
The Southeast is particularly vulnerable because it has fewer refineries and pipelines to deliver fuel, compared to the Northeast, which is less at risk. The Southeast is also less equipped to quickly import large quantities of gasoline from other countries, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The worst shortages were in North Carolina, where 9.7 per cent of all stations in the state were without fuel, according to Gas Buddy Tracker. Virginia was second hardest-hit, with 7.9 per cent of gas stations empty, followed by Georgia with 6.5 per cent and South Carolina with 4.3 per cent.
In five states – Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia – demand was up by a collective 40.1 per cent on Monday. Read more…