Concerned travelers discuss their troubles finding gas

JACKSON, Tenn.–The cyber attack on the Colonial Pipeline is creating fears of a gas shortage. We spoke with many people traveling through West Tennessee Wednesday, and they all have the same concern… the fear of running out of gas and not being able to fill their car up in order to reach their destination.

“Now I’m getting kind of worried because we went to several spots and couldn’t get fuel,” North Carolina traveler Mike Portner said.

“I stopped at multiple gas stations because some of the pumps are empty. You’re lucky if you catch one that isn’t,” New York traveler Penny Rivera said.

The travelers we spoke with say when they did stop for gas, they were faced with a number of issues. For some, there was limit on how much gas they could buy. Others say there were high prices and long lines.

“Usually it’s like 30 cents cheaper here than New York, and it’s cheaper in New York right now,” Rivera said.

“Leaving out of Memphis area this morning, we stopped at a station near our shop. They had a limit of 15 dollars worth of gas is all you could buy,” Memphis traveler Kevin Kieffer said.

“Stay home if you can, I wish I would have,” Portner said.

Some drivers say they were being extra cautious, constantly looking for the next gas station.

“Kinda keeping an extra eye out on the gas tank just to make sure if we’re getting kinda low. Keeping an eye out being like OK we should probably start looking for a place to get gas,” Virginia traveler Michael Scholl said.

Although drivers we spoke with say most problems they found were at gas stations in other parts of the state and surrounding states, some are worried about a limited availability at gas stations nearby.

“It seemed like there was a lot of gas and one morning we woke up and there was no gas. We went to get some gas and all the pumps were closed, about ran out of gas, and was thinking man maybe were going to be stuck here,” North Carolina traveler Charles Taylor said.

For now, they say they hope people will stop hoarding gas out of fear.

“It’s like the toilet paper last year with COVID. Now they’re doing it with gas, it’s not that crucial but they’re doing it,” Rivera said.