How Hurricane Ike is Effecting Gas Prices

Hurricane Ike made landfall in Texas yesterday. We are not suffering much yet from the out-bands of it right now in Jackson, Mississippi, but we are suffering from it in another way. I'm talking about the gas prices and gas shortage!

On Thursday, September 11, 2008, I filled the gas tank of my car for $3.59 a gallon. This was the average gas price for regular unleaded in Jackson. I made a 150 mile trip into Louisiana and stayed overnight. The next afternoon, Friday, September 12, 2008, I returned home to Jackson.

I was planning to stop and fill up with gas before I got home so I wouldn't have to do it the next day if it was raining. When I got into the edge of Jackson, traveling on I-20 East, I started seeing long lines at the gas stations. Some of those lines were 2 and 3 blocks long!

I turned the radio to a local station. That's when I heard the reports that 90% of the oil wells were shut down in the Gulf of Mexico because of the hurricanes. Radio station 96.3 FM was reporting gas shortages. Now that was something I just did not believe. How could there be that big of a shortage in just a day's time?

Well, I was tired and didn't feel like waiting in line for gas. Although my gas gauge said empty, I knew I should have enough in the tank to make it home. I'd wait and get gas tomorrow. That was a mistake!! I went to my regular gas station the next morning. It was closed with a big sign on the door saying, "Closed due to gas shortage. We are sorry for the inconvenience, but we are out of gas and don't know when we will get any." Alright, down the road I went to the next station. Out of gas there, too. Next station actually had some gas left, but there was a really long line and the sign said $4.29 a gallon! No way, that couldn't be right, so I went down a little further.

After several more closed stations and a couple of high priced ones, I knew I'd better get some gas or I'd run out and be walking. I turned around and went back to the one that had gas for $4.19 a gallon. I got in line, about a block and a half away, with all the rest of the cars to wait my turn. It took almost 45 minutes to get to the gas pump!! And you know what? By the time I got there, the price on the sign said $4.39 a gallon and on top of that, there was a 10 gallon gas limit per vehicle!

On my way home, I turned the radio on to see if there were any new news about Hurricane Ike. Ike still wasn't heading our way, but there was some other disturbing news. According to 96.3 FM, some gas stations in Jackson had jumped the price of their gas up to over $5 a gallon for regular unleaded!! Well, the Attorney General was called in to put a stop to this kind of highway robbery. Those gas stations were made to lower their prices back down. I mean, after all, there are regulations in effect to protect us from things like this, regulations that controls how high gas prices can go.

Well, right now I have my 10 gallons of gas in my car and I am at home. I think I'm going to stay here for a couple of days to see what is going to happen with the gas. If gas is that precious of a commodity, I think I am smart to stay home and conserve what little bit I have! There's no way of telling at this point when I might be able to get more (if I can still afford it!).