That gas shortage in the tri-state area

[malaise]

You see those long post-storm lines - we have them before a storm arrives - it's a very different culture when you're accustomed to hurricanes.
We just have to hear something is south of Barbados and we fill both cars to avoid the lines when it approaches. Our city looked like that before Sandy hit.

[Warpy]

1. Don't forget that demand goes up and a lot of those people

were standing in lines with Jerry cans for their generators. Likely they did fill the cars and the cans before the storm but a few days without power and a generator used to run the refrigerator eat up the supply very quickly. That's the problem, that they didn't have buried gas tanks with pumps for the generators.

Back before gas generators became available, people lived on the ice cream first and then the rest of the freezer contents, having to toss out about half of what they had. So it's a choice: gas lines or rotten food.

[malaise]

6. That's true in a non-hurricane culture

Here you buy those post- hurricane supplies at the end of May and fill up the cars and the cans before the storm.
It boils down to culture. If power is out for two days we have parties and cook everything using coal fires or BBQs - I remember making a huge pot of jerk chicken , split peas and corn soup two days after Ivan gave us a swipe. We cooked it on a coal fire.
While our neighbors and the young men who helped clean up the trees and debris were filling their cups that night, the power returned. We still played cards and dominoes and drank lots of red stripe that night.

New Yorkers will acclimatize - many more will prepare in advance next time.
Even in the Caribbean collective memory disappears if serious hurricanes stay away for two generations.

[Warpy]

34. The cans were filled before the storm.

A protracted power outage uses it up pretty quickly.

Don't forget that you're in the tropics. It's damned cold in NYC and NJ at the end of October and the heat doesn't work without electricity.

I never had a generator. I just spent days and nights baking until I'd run out of flour (and I bought it in bulk), just to justify keeping the gas oven going so the kitchen would be tolerable, quilts thumbtacked over the doors.

[customerserviceguy]

2. Yes, there is a different preparation mindset here

We got back from vacation on the Sunday before the storm hit, and while my car was nearly full from over a week earlier, we knew we had to fill up my lady's vehicle that night on the way home and did so. However, panic is contagious, and while I felt twinges of it, seeing gas lines go from 1/4 mile, to 1/2 mile the next evening, to a full mile the evening after that, I still figured I had two, probably three days of workweek gas. I'm a Northwesterner, and we don't freak out that easily.

However, my lady is a Jersey girl, through and through. She got a "hot tip" from one of the owners of a new restaurant we go to, where this owner does some of the serving, and her husband runs the pizza oven. At her day job at the bank, a local service station owner said he would open up at 5 AM, and my lady got up that early to get gas for herself. Seeing that the wait was much less than she anticipated, she came back and got my car filled up again, even though it was less then ten gallons to do that. For her, panic is an itch that simply must be scratched, and my observations of the folks around here for five and a half years tell me that she's not atypical in that respect.

You also have heavy amounts of commuting, I live about 20 miles away from where I work, and I often see Connecticut plates on the Garden State Parkway, you know those folks have to drive through about 20 miles of NY between the CT border and the NJ border, so they burn a lot more gas. Also, loads of people here tend to drive bigger vehicles, SUV's, minivans, and such, and those with smaller cars often have sportier ones that they like to drive fast.

It seems that the local mindset and lifestyles are in collision with the realities that people face. They may eventually blame themselves for that, but if so, it won't come before Tuesday. There's a big tendancy here to find someone else to blame, and while Christie will get his share in NJ, it will have time to subside before he's up for re-election. I do fear that there are a lot of Obama and Democratic votes that simply will not show up because of the storm's timing.

[rickford66]

5. part of our problem

"I often see Connecticut plates on the Garden State Parkway". We can't continue to drive so many miles. If mass transit isn't available, maybe we should live closer to work. I live in NY, close to the PA border. People here drive to PA to save a few cents on a gallon of gas and don't figure in the cost in gas etc to get that couple cents savings. I've read that the average car usually has a half tank of gas, but when an emergency hits, everybody fills up so an instant gas shortage is created. We're all guilty at one time or another. A good electro-magnetic storm could wipe out all the unprotected electronics in the world. Not science fiction. As the Earth's magnetic field weakens and possibly disappears for the short while it reverses, we are vulnerable. Then it may take years to recover. It won't take long for all the deer, turkey and rabbits to disappear from my neighborhood. We live in a passive solar home and have about two years worth of wood stacked. We have enough gas on hand to run our generator for only a few days. What precautions have all of you taken? Pleas share any prcatical advice with the rest of us.

[jp11]

32. We would ideally live closer to work but for many it just isn't an option

jobs go away, companies move, offshore, close down etc. Many people take jobs far away to move up in their career or to escape crap working conditions. Selling your house or moving isn't easy in the best of times let alone in the shit economy we've had for so many years.

There are I'm sure people who would't move no matter their means to do so, because they like their home/property and would rather commute over leaving to try and find something else closer that fits their needs.

What we need to do for the future is to stop following this early 20'th century idea that everything should be built to be driven to. Sticking a business or store out in the middle of nowhere so we can build a new highway out there then fill it in with more stuff over time. We need to work on investing more in rail/light rail and buses so people will be better served with public transit over sitting in their cars for an hour or more to and fro or stuck in traffic.

I can only hope that the lessons of Sandy will have some impact on this idea of not wanting to invest in our future by republicans and that voters will pressure them to work on expanding public transportation.

[malaise]

8. Valid point re that panic because I know folks who have all their supplies

ready from May and love the excitement in supermarkets the day before a hurricane is about to hit us.
They cannot help themselves although we do know people who go just to laugh at the rubbish people buy before a hurricane.

[rickford66]

14. supermarket shelves

I went to our local Wegman's on the Sunday before the storm to pick up the usual things and saw the empty shelves but no big crowds. I asked the checker why the store was empty. He said Saturday was a madhouse. Water etc all sold out. The elderly and apartment dwellers are at a big disadvantage. Those of us who have been fortunate to have the resources to plan ahead should never begrudge those who don't. If everyone could work hard and become rich, who would do the work to maintain our infrastructure, produce our energy and food or collect our garbage? The reThuglicans are blind to reality.

[malaise]

16. Valid point - some folks don't have the money required to prepare

That said, once hurricanes are ingrained in your culture you find ways to prepare.
I know weekly paid workers who were terrified because Sandy was going to hit us the day before their pay day and many went to their credit union for advances. Luckily our institution decided to release their pay two days early because they anticipated that problem.

Still pensioners and the vulnerable often need help. Still this thread is more about the gas problem.

[zbdent]

3. True, but how many "storm of the Century"s have you "lived through" that,

after you've stripped all the ratings week hype, turned out to be nothing more than a slightly heavier rain or snowfall?

There is something to be said about how the media loves to hype something for ratings, or to pitch X ...

witness the fact that there have been no color changes on the "terror alert" since November 2004 ...

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. You know, the media is reading NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE product

But go on.

I now know this since we run red flag warnings regularly. It is hard to make them less scary.

Also this storm the NWS was as blunt as I have seen their product since....Katrina.

And yes, Jim cantore was reading their product on air.

[malaise]

10. The media is one thing

but you should pay attention when you see your local, state and federal officials warning you that a big one is coming. When you see the President warning you, it is time to pay attention because he is never there when the media is looking for ratings.

[zbdent]

24. A thought on that ...

The other day, I heard someone on the radio, obviously RW, saying that, when the (in this case REPUBLICAN) governor tells you to evacuate the area, YOU REALLY SHOULD GO.

I thought, good advice, but if President Obama told this guy to "leave his belongings behind and get away because a storm might be hitting you", would HE have listened to the Kenyan Muslin?

Seems like there are plenty who refuse to listen to people in the know ... one in particular (long before the 24/7 news of today):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Randall_Truman

[malaise]

30. I did wonder how many persons decided to

defy that 'black' Kenyan Muslim socialist.

[gkhouston]

4. +1. The electronic signs on the freeways that warn of closings up ahead, etc.,

will change to "Storm forming in the Gulf. Fill up your tanks".

[malaise]

11. That's the hurricane culture at work

and we do pay attention - it must be more difficult for New Yorkers although they will learn

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. Yup

Even Mexico City denizens fill up, since the city floods.

[malaise]

13. Mexico also deals with a lot of Pacific hurricanes

they get it on both sides

[nadinbrzezinski]

15. Oh yeah, geography sucks.

[lindysalsagal]

12. In CT filling the tank was on the list of preparations

But I live in the suburbs. New Yorkers and coastal NJ's use their cars sporadically, so may not think of it, taking mass transit for granted.

[malaise]

17. That why you have to change the culture

Folks may even have to charge their electric cars in advance.

[harrose]

18. The question you have to ask is....

... how much gas are the Rethugs holding back (using the hurricane as a pretext) to create this problem and affect the voting in those states?

[malaise]

19. That no longer matters since the Feds have brought in the army with

gazillions of gallons of gas

[cthulu2016]

20. And the answer you have to come up with is "none"

[phylny]

22. My husband works for a large oil company

and they have been working 'round the clock to supply gasoline to the region, diverting trucks and supply.

So the answer is "none."

[TBF]

29. Nope - gas is cheap right now down here in Houston

$2.99/gallon at the Shell near my house yesterday.

If there is a problem it's probably access to get into the area (trees down and that kind of thing maybe?) ...

[MineralMan]

21. Here in Minnesota, folks don't let their gas tank go below half full

in the winter months. It can be tough to get to a station after a big snowfall, but everyone still has to get to work, etc.

[malaise]

25. Because you have harsh winters

It's part of your culture.

[MineralMan]

31. Yup. Minnesotans take winter in stride most of the time,

but only because they're prepared for it. I've only lived here since 2004, but picked up winter skills pretty quickly.

For example, I have four winter jackets, ranging from a fairly light one for mild weather, to a major league parka rated to -30. Each jacket has a pair of gloves in the pockets, to match the type of weather I'll be wearing the jacket in. For snow removal chores, in temperatures below zero, I add insulated pants and insulated boots with ice cleats to the wardrobe before heading outside.

If you're dressed appropriately, it's no big deal. If you're not, it's downright dangerous.

Cars are another issue. New battery every three years, without fail. 5W-30 oil. Plug-in engine heater and car in the garage anytime it snows or temps go below 10 degrees F. That way, the car starts without problems, there's no sheet of ice on your window, and you can get where you're going when you need to. Skip that stuff, and things aren't' going to work out. And then, in the car is a snow shovel, extra gloves, a bag of sand, heavy-duty jumper cables, and extra -30 degree windshield washer fluid.

It's almost fun, really. Almost.

[datasuspect]

23. yes this is important

but can people charge their smartphones yet?

5 days without facebook? THE HORROR!

[malaise]

26. LOL

You raise an important point. A lot of folks would be more traumatized if they can't charge their smartphone. That said, the smartphone does help folks inform relatives and friends that they are safe

[TBF]

28. If you can run your car a few minutes you can charge it in there :)

but only if you have gas ...

[TBF]

27. I don't let my car go below half during August/Sept here ...

you get used to that mindset.

Interestingly our gas is super cheap here this weekend. I wonder if trucks can't get into some areas so they are dumping more on stations down here? Regular at Shell yesterday was $2.99/gallon.

[malaise]

33. Same here - from hurricane season starts

I try to keep a 3/4 tank at all times.