KATY, Texas – The Buc-ee’s in Katy was a popular site Wednesday night with people from across southeast Texas looking for gas. Jose Ortiz drove all the way from Eagle Lake just to fill two one-gallon cans.
“I had to drive about 50 miles to get here,” Ortiz said. “50 miles I had to drive to get these two gallons so I can run a generator overnight.”
For Briana Jones, who drove from Memorial, the quest was for gas and food.
“It’s bad,” she said. “We can’t live like this. We’re trying to go to Buc-ee’s to get some food. We’re just trying to scavenge around to see who has food.”
This week’s storm has also created a shortage of gas.
Patrick De Haan with Gas Buddy, a crowd-sharing app that helps people find the cheapest gas, said right now fuel tankers are only making 10% of their normal deliveries. Plus, the storm knocked 20% of the nation’s refineries offline, including nearly a dozen in Texas. Prices already have increased by 10%.
“This is an impact that is going to be the worst in the South, Texas across the region,” said DeHaan. “Houston’s going to be the epicenter of some of the larger price increases.”
De Haan said we can expect prices to increase several cents a day for about the next two weeks.