‘High Anxiety:’ Hundreds of Gas Stations Have Run Out of Fuel, Others See Massive Lines as Shortage Worsens

As gasoline stations run dry, anxiety is growing across the East Coast where a cyberattack forced a major fuel pipeline to shut down.

The 5,500-mile Colonial Pipeline has been shut down indefinitely since Friday after a cyberattack led its operators to cease operations of the major artery supplying gasoline to states all through the Southeast and mid-Atlantic regions. The company hopes to reopen most of the line by the end of the week.

In the meantime, “We’re seeing a gas run,” said Patrick De Haan, GasBuddy’s head of petroleum analysis, according to the Wall Street Journal.

“Now we’re going to see more dramatic as people run to the stations and run them dry.”

That’s already happening. As of Tuesday morning, 240 Georgia stations were out of gas, according to GasBuddy. That’s about 4 percent of the state’s stations.

Georgia was not alone. About 7.5 percent of Virginia’s stations were dry, while about 5 percent of North Carolina’s stations had nothing for gas-thirsty customers, and almost 2 percent of South Carolina stations were out.

Gas Buddy data showed demand for gasoline up 40 percent in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia.