ATLANTA — The one-two punch of hurricanes Gustav and Ike have left motorists in the Southeast coping with major gasoline shortages. Some stations have no gasoline, while others are seeing long gas lines. For fleet managers in the region, the shortage itself has been a major disaster.

USA Today reported that these shortages could last another two weeks, according to industry and government experts.

The shortage began two weeks after Hurricane Gustav hit the oil-refining areas of the Gulf Coast on Sept. 1. Operations that shut down before Gustav were just coming back online when Hurricane Ike hit, forcing another shutdown. Gasoline is particularly scarce in Atlanta, Nashville, parts of the Carolinas and Anniston, Ala.

Long gas lines continued to plague the Charlotte area over the weekend. Asheville, N.C., shut down some government offices Friday, USA Today reported. "Things were pretty severe to the point gas stations did not have gas, and the ones that did have gas had an hour to two-hour wait," city spokeswoman Trisha Hardin told the newspaper.

 

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