Hurricane Idalia: Florida gas contamination remains issue for drivers as storm pounds state

Hurricane Idalia slammed Florida as a Category 3 storm on Wednesday. A gasoline contamination issue impacted several filling stations in cities across the state.

Contaminated gasoline at filling stations in parts of Florida continues to be an issue for drivers in the state after Hurricane Idalia’s landfall as a Category 3 storm.

Officials said that gas purchased after 10 a.m. on Saturday at stations supplied by Citgo from the Port of Tampa has a strong likelihood of being contaminated with diesel fuel. They cited human error as the reason behind the accidental mixing of fuels that has affected more than two dozen gas stations in the state.

"There couldn't be a worse time to have this contamination event as thousands of drivers try to flee the area, plus for those that filled up, the potential inability to have a functional vehicle to leave the area," Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy told FOX Business.

FLORIDA GOV RON DESANTIS SEES LIGHTS FLICKER DURING HURRICANE IDALIA PRESS CONFERENCE ON MASS POWER OUTAGES

"It's quite rare to see the level of contamination that we saw Citgo announce with diesel in the gasoline, but these incidents have happened before on a smaller scale," he added. "It will be cleaned up and unlikely to repeat any time soon."

DESANTIS DELIVERS UPDATE AFTER HURRICANE IDALIA BATTERS FLORIDA

Idalia, which has been downgraded to a Category 2 storm, has produced storm surges several feet high in some areas and brought damaging winds that reached up to 130 mph at one point, according to the National Hurricane Center. 

Despite the storm, De Haan said there has been a low level of gas outages so far in Florida and virtually no impact on prices.

HURRICANE IDALIA: MAJOR CARRIERS SUSPEND OPERATIONS AT AIRPORTS IN STORM'S PATH

"We probably won't see much change in price and will take another day or two once the storm clears Florida to potentially see outage numbers edge higher, but it seems the situation shouldn't get much worse," he said.

HURRICANE IDALIA: SOME FLORIDA AIRPORTS CLOSE, AIRLINES TAKE ACTION AS STATE BRACES FOR STORM

Oil prices edged higher on Wednesday as investors eyed the effects of Idalia.

GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE

Data & News supplied by www.cloudquote.io
Stock quotes supplied by Barchart
Quotes delayed at least 20 minutes.
By accessing this page, you agree to the following
Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions.