Florida Gas Stations Run Out of Fuel Ahead of Hurricane Idalia

Florida gas stations are running out of fuel as Hurricane Idalia barrels toward the state after strengthening from a tropical storm.

Hurricane Idalia winds were at 80 mph Tuesday morning as the storm continued its trek past Cuba, according to an advisory by the National Hurricane Center. Forecasts anticipate the storm will strengthen to a major hurricane—having winds stronger than 111 mph—by the time it impacts Florida on Wednesday.

Meteorologists expect that Idalia will cause up to 12 feet of storm surge along Florida's west coast. Officials have warned Floridians of Idalia's anticipated strength, which has the potential to become a Category 4 or higher by the time it makes landfall.

Gas stations are beginning to run dry as people rush to prepare for the storm and tracking and pricing website GasBuddy head of petroleum analysis, Patrick De Haan, shared a graph on X, formerly Twitter, Tuesday morning that depicted the percentage of gas stations running out of fuel in Florida.

"As of 9am ET, the percentage of stations gas in several #Florida cities continues to rise," De Haan wrote with the graphic.

Most dry stations were in Gainesville, Fort Myers and Tampa. As of Tuesday morning, 3.5 percent of stations had run dry in Fort Myers, with a similar number running out of fuel in Gainesville. Just over 2 percent of stations had run out of fuel in Tampa.

The percentage of dry stations has nearly doubled in Fort Myers compared to a similar graph De Haan posted on Monday night.

"It does not appear to be [brand] specific at this point," De Haan told Newsweek, referring to the stations that had run out.

The state of Florida is prepared to assist the stations during the increased demand, according to a social media post by Bay News 9 anchor Jeff Butera.

"NEW: FL @GovRonDeSantis says they have 400K gallons of gasoline ready to deploy. They'll focus on gas stations along evac routes," Butera wrote. "Anecdotal: The Shell gas station across from @BN9 told me they were on pace to be out last night. There was clearly the pre-storm run. #Idalia."

Not only are gas stations running out of fuel, but 29 were selling contaminated gas before authorities identified a "potentially widespread fuel contamination caused by human error," at the Port of Tampa.

The contamination impacted 29 Citgo-supplied gas stations. The contaminated fuel could cause engine damage or affect operability, according to a state alert about the issue.

The affected stations were asked to stop selling gas until the tanks were cleaned and the fuel was replaced, but officials warned customers that if they purchased gas from the impacted stations after 10 a.m. on Saturday, August 26, that their vehicles and generators may not function properly.