Posted on 04/19/2023 3:15:55 AM PDT by NautiNurse
Some parts of South Florida were dealing with major gas supply issues after a storm last week brought torrential rain and flooding to the region, causing fuel delivery delays.
A staggering 59% of all gas stations in the Miami and Fort Lauderdale area were out of fuel at one point Tuesday, along with another 21% of gas stations in West Palm Beach, according to fuel tracker GasBuddy.com. Some of those shortages were the result of a "panic buying spree, which overwhelmed the system," said Patrick De Haan, head of Gasbuddy's petroleum analysis.
He said that there were still "millions of gallons of gasoline still waiting to be delivered." De Haan estimated it would take about a week for things to get back to normal.
Lamar P. Fisher, mayor of Broward County — which includes Fort Lauderdale — said in a statement Monday that "the loading and delivering of petroleum products" was "disrupted on April 12 during the unprecedented storm that flooded greater Fort Lauderdale."
[Snip]
"There is no need to panic or rush to the pumps," Fisher said.
The Florida Division of Emergency Management on Tuesday said that the State Emergency Response Team was sending 500,000 gallons of fuel to Southeast Florida and that the first trucks should be arriving by Tuesday night.
Many residents were left scouring the region for gas, and on Tuesday, there were long lines of cars waiting to fill up at those stations which did have fuel.
[Snip]
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
Early this morning, before the sun was up, I rose and found plus and premium grades "out of service" at the local Wawa. Fortunately, I use corn-free gasoline in my vehicle. Filled 'er up. Regular unleaded and diesel also available.
Just wait until everybody is forced into ‘green’ EV cars, and the power is out for two weeks after a hurricane.
Just curious.
How much was the ethanol free?
Just curious.
How much was the ethanol free?
Dammit!
Stuttered again
If a storm was bad enough to knock out power for two weeks, rooftop solar panels would be damaged too. The old adage of topping off the gas tank before a storm is still the best prep.
Ethanol free was $4.45/gal today. Expensive, with the promise there is improved mileage and a healthier vehicle with the corn-free gasoline.
Gonna give you a “no” on damage to solar panels. (We have them)
Depending on how they are mounted they have varying wind load ratings and PROPERLY mounted can remain intact during high and/or prolonged winds. You get a specific hurricane rating upon installation (from a qualified company) you can provide to your insurance company. Our panels have a higher rating than our shingles 😉. We live in N GA in the foothills of the Appalachians, so tropical winds are RARE, but we DO get very strong straight line winds with winter fronts and some thunderstorms.
We’ve never had a storm-related panel failure or even damage.
Of course wind driven debris can damage anything. Wind alone can be handled nicely by solar panels. And no they don’t work, at all, when covered by 6” of snow. They DO require the sunshine after all. That’s where the battery is key.
Our solar + battery system has been a great backup to grid power during storm outages.
That’s true but this storm was not expected to have this result. It was a fluke of nature.
I’d love solar panels. But I won’t get them because when you replace the roof you have to pay somebody to take them off and pay to have them back on. After paying 24,000 for the roof, last thing I want to do is pay additional money. Not only that but our roof doesn’t last long in Florida. The insurance companies start bugging you at age 15.
Your “no” came with several accurate qualifiers. A storm that would knock out the grid for two weeks would include catastrophic damage to structures. btw—I’ve had a variety of solar installations for more than 20 years.
My experience shows it costing 5-7% more with fuel mileage increasing by 7-10%. Some things are that simple. It’s just not available in my area.
EC
btw--I was in Miami ~30 years ago during a very similar rain/flood event. My rental car was floating when I was a stone's throw from the Miami airport. Scary times.
Thank you for your data! It is a bit painful to pay at the pump, but the improved mileage is definitely worth it.
Yeah. I feel for them. Weirdly we in central Florida got nothing. We are in a severe drought.
Same here—very little precip on the Gulf coast. Drought conditions.
We live in ‘the sticks’ with lots of trees (N GA) and most of the electrical distribution is aerial- both on poles and the drops to homes. So when we get widespread storm damage with outages it can take a while for our EMC to fully clear and restore the lines.
Longest outage has been 6 days. Couple of times 3 days.
Most outages are less than 8 hours.
We barely notice.
You spoke of catastrophic damage. If the damage to our home is “catastrophic” there is a good chance we won’t be in it or bigger issues than solar power will be in play.
FWIW, we also have two dual-fuel portable generators as back ups and for projects around the property. We’re good on ensuring power.
Re longevity: as a solar user, you’re likely aware a panel installation is good for ~25 years, then loss of production efficiency and other deterioration point to a refresh cycle. So yeah, there’s money involved- for re-roofing and new solar components. Everything residential has an anticipated end of life.
We have solar NOT because it’s some magic money saver. Rather we have it as a backup and a means of flat-rating about 80% (on a good year) of our power costs. Making money selling power back or zero cost electricity is an internet myth/lie. Solar is a deliberate investment made for reliability/resilience and predictable costs.
I started the solar journey long before it was chic. Have had hits (the passive solar water heater paid for itself in two years) and misses (solar pool heater blew off in a tropical storm). The batteries didn’t last nearly as long as expected. Color me jaded with the solar experience.
I’m in corn country
Few ethanol free stations here.
That’s about the price we pay at the one pump in town for ethanol free
Paid $4.23 two weeks ago. Big price jump to $4.45 this morning for corn free.
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