Florida Fuel Outages Increase as Residents Evacuate Before Hurricane Milton

By Shariq Khan

As residents in Florida prepared to evacuate in advance of Hurricane Milton’s approaching landfall, nearly a quarter of the state’s fuel pumps were reported to be out of gasoline on Wednesday morning. This hurricane has the potential to be one of the most destructive storms to impact the Gulf Coast.

Over one million people in coastal areas of Florida were under evacuation orders, leading to traffic congestion on highways and fuel shortages stretching from Tampa to Orlando. This comes as the region is still recovering from the recent devastation caused by Hurricane Helene less than two weeks prior. Meteorologists predict Milton will make landfall in the Tampa Bay metropolitan area late on Wednesday.

According to market tracker GasBuddy, around 24% of nearly 8,000 gasoline pumps in Florida had run dry by noon Eastern Time on Wednesday, a significant increase from over 17% the previous evening.

Florida ranks as the third-largest gasoline consumer in the U.S., but the absence of any refineries in the state means it relies on fuel shipments from outside sources. The anticipated severity of Hurricane Milton and its projected course over Tampa Bay—home to many of the state’s fuel import and storage terminals—could lead to the most substantial disruption to Florida’s fuel supply since the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew in 1992, according to OPIS oil analyst Tom Kloza.

If Hurricane Milton causes significant damage to ports or fuel terminals along the Gulf Coast, the resulting disruptions could hinder re-supply efforts after the storm passes. A prolonged closure of the Port of Tampa Bay, which halted all vessel traffic on Tuesday, could dramatically affect fuel supplies for western and central Florida, as noted by Ben Ruddell, director of the FEWSION Project.

In a typical year, more than 17 million tons of petroleum and natural gas products traverse through Tampa Bay, according to the Energy Information Administration. In preparation for the storm, energy companies have begun shutting down their terminals in Tampa, including Kinder Morgan, Chevron, CITGO Petroleum, and Buckeye Partners.

Additionally, Kinder Morgan closed its Central Florida Pipeline system, a network that transports gasoline, ethanol, diesel, and jet fuel from Tampa to Orlando. Meanwhile, wholesale fuel distributor Mansfield has classified Tampa and Orlando under Code Blue, which effectively halts fuel deliveries due to worsening conditions that render roads impassable for trucks. Other Florida markets have been placed on Code Red, necessitating a 72-hour advance notice for fuel deliveries.