Suzette Cook
Just before midnight on Thursday at the Shell gas station in Jonesville, 8,800 gallons of fuel were being transferred to the underground fuel tanks.
The Jacksonville-based driver for Eagle Transport said she and her coworkers are working 16-hour days delivering up to four loads of fuel to Alachua County and beyond.Â
Earlier on Thursday, Mainstreet Daily News checked gas stations in central Florida off I-75 and the Florida Turnpike near Orlando and observed that the gas supply in those locations was steady and seemly unfazed by the panic buying going on in North Florida.
Gas stations surrounding the major theme parks were also serving customers with no long lines or shortages that are still happening in other regions of the state.Â
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency on Tuesday allowing for relaxed restrictions for fuel delivery trucks and with the extra loads, the restart of the Colonial Pipeline, a call from local and state official for consumers to stop panic buying is still in effect.
Despite all the buying, Florida’s gas prices are holding steading and are at less than the national gas price average reported by AAA on Friday. The national gas price average is $3.039 with Florida coming in under average at $2.896.
GasBuddy tracker, a site that monitors fuel levels and power at gas stations, shows only four out of more than 80 gas stations in the Alachua County region as being out of fuel as 10 a.m. on Friday (May 14).
