Indeed. The lines are ridiculous. I was out this morning and managed to find a couple of stations with just one or two cars at the pumps. I filled up, then went to the store and by the time I had returned, the lines were humongous as the word must have gotten out that there was gas in the.....I hesitate to mention the area I live in, so let's just say "somewhere in Nashville."
One of the two stations began emptying suddenly; that's when I noticed the station attendant placing bags over the nozzles....outta gas, baby.
It doesn't have to be this way but folks are nutted up thinking there'll be no gas. The Tennessean didn't help matters with this morning's blaring headline:
Nashville pumps dry after panic about rumor of no gas
(CNN) -- Call it a self-fulfilling
Officials said panic regarding a rumor of a lack of gas caused customers to to rush to the pumps.
He said he has no idea about the origin of a rumor that there was going to be no gas in Nashville. One reporter called him, saying she had heard that Nashville would be without gas within the hour, he said.
Hearing the rumor, drivers rushed to fill their cars and trucks.
CNN called 13 Nashville gas stations at random. Only two reported having gas, and one said it was almost out. The stations said they were being told they would not get more until Monday or Tuesday.
Katie Givens Kime, visiting from Atlanta, Georgia, was trying to fill up her tank for the trip home when she ran into trouble -- when she was already low on gas.
"We panicked and looked online," she said. "And holy cow, there is no gas in the city. ... It has definitely gripped the city, for sure."
One store clerk told her there was no way she could get gas to go back home, she said.
Williams said some drivers were following gas trucks to see where they were headed, and lines at some stations were a mile long. Fuel was continuing to enter the city, however, as pipelines were working and barges were coming in.
He likened it to Southerners rushing out to stock up on bread and milk when they hear it might snow. As stations began running low, the situation snowballed, he said.
One station reported selling as much gas Friday as it usually does in a weekend, Williams said.
The phenomenon seemed to be isolated to the Nashville area, he said.
Givens Kime said she found a station online that still had gas and waited more than an hour to pump it.
"People were freaked out," she said. A "renegade bunch" of men helped direct traffic to and from the pumps, even taking drivers' cash inside for them. She described people filling cans and other containers as well as cars.
She said that the station was not engaging in price gouging but that "emotions were running very high" among drivers
Let's hope that WRCB's report is spread far and wide:
MORE FUEL ON THE WAY TO NASHVILLE
Associated Press - September 20, 2008 3:15 AM ET
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Pipelines supplying Nashville with gasoline were running at full capacity after a shortage that officials said was spurred by panic buying.
Gov. Phil Bredesen said in a news release on Friday that the pipelines supplying Nashville should continue at full capacity into next week.
Still, Bredesen urged Nashvillians to conserve fuel, saying the city could continue to see shortages for the next few days.
Tennessee Oil Marketers Association Associate Director Emily LeRoy had said earlier in the day there was fuel coming in, but the pipeline supply was sporadic.
LeRoy said some Nashville stations had reported double their usual fuel sales volume for a week, since Hurricane Ike came ashore in Texas - a sign of panic buying.
Meanwhile Knoxville - which had a similar problem over last weekend - was receiving adequate delivery and prices had dropped.
Memphis and Chattanooga reported no problems obtaining fuel.
