A potential crisis I didn't forsee (Sandy edition)

[womzilla]

Westchester County has basically run out of gasoline, at least for private automobiles.

There are two major causes: Many gas stations are still without power, so all of the gas in their tanks is inaccessible; and riverine deliveries to the main local transshipment point (Newburgh, NY, about 60 miles north of Yonkers) have been suspended for several days because of high water on the Hudson. The latter is expected to end tomorrow (Saturday) or early Sunday, but, as it says at the link, "It's not going to happen overnight, though. It'll take a couple of days." A third, minor, cause is increased consumption by portable generators and yard equipment, which at least has contributed to hoarding and overbuying.

supergee witnessed some of the lesser appalling gas lines at stations near our house. Another article mentioned a station in White Plains that had a line of cars a mile long waiting, and complaints of waits 2 or 3 hours in Yonkers were common on Twitter today.

(My own experience with lines was limited to seeing a truly epic bus line in midtown Manhattan. It extended at least 2 blocks up Lexington before turning and running along 46th Street most of the way to the Park Avenue overpass--about 1/4 mile.)

Compared to having one's car or home destroyed, this is still pretty minor stuff. But it's a real problem. Running out of gas is not a problem that one can get around with mere patience or determination (walking to the subway is really not an option), and I worry that nellorat will not be able to reach work on Sunday. Sigh.

Comments

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

Oh, I get it now.... the power outages aren't as wide-spread as I thought.

K.

[womzilla.livejournal.com]

My immediate reaction was that running a gas-powered generator near a gasoline pump would be dangerous, but I bet it isn't particularly. Generators are risky when being fueled, and in enclosed spaces, but they aren't otherwise any worse than a car engine.

[womzilla.livejournal.com]

And, in fact, it turns out that generators are being brought to stations. And many other stations are getting power back without generators. As I drove nellorat to the subway on Sunday morning, we passed a line of cars waiting to fuel up at a station which had just come back on-line and thus still had gas from before the storm.