Gas prices reach highest average of year; AAA blames Harvey

JACKSON, Tenn. — Hurricane Harvey’s impacts are stretching far beyond the Gulf Coast and even into West Tennessee.

AAA says gas prices are now the highest they’ve been all year.

Drivers hit the road this holiday weekend and are starting to feel the pinch. Terry Taylor is one of them.

“I was looking at the news, and they said it’s gone up 24 cents in the last week,” he said.

Monday, he filled up for $2.59 a gallon at Old Medina Market in north Jackson.

To some, that might be considered cheap. Other prices around the Hub City are at $2.70 a gallon.

“My truck is bad. It drinks that gas when you’re just driving around,” he said.

Right now, the nationwide average is $2.63 a gallon. Just last week, the average was $2.36.

AAA says because of Hurricane Harvey, some major refineries in Texas halted production, which the nonprofit says caused the spike in gas prices.

“I haven’t seen it this high in a while. It just skyrocketed out of the blue,” Zadie Ellington said.

“As I pulled up, the gas prices went up 30 cents. It’s pretty intense,” Brandon Karnes said.

But while the higher prices may be inconvenient to some, others say it’s just something they have to deal with.

“I’m hoping it will go down, but seeing there are problems down there, it’s something we will have to live with for a little while,” West Tennessee resident Daniel Doyle said.

AAA expects prices to fall back into the average range by mid-September