Amid empty pumps, Miami-Dade mayor urges drivers not to hoard gas or top off tanks

With a gas station’s empty pumps behind her, Miami-Dade County’s mayor on Wednesday urged drivers to avoid refueling if they could as panic tank-topping extends a gas crisis brought on by last week’s flooding at the Port Everglades fuel depot.

“We know all of our residents are struggling to find gas at the pumps,” Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said at a Shell station in Coconut Grove with no gasoline to sell shortly after 11 a.m. “The good news is there is gas available.”

READ MORE: Can you find gas in Miami? Fuel crisis easing? What to know about supply after the flood

The backdrop captured the challenge in Levine Cava’s message: Reassure the public that fuel shipments are returning to normal after the Port Everglades disruption from last week’s flooding in hopes of stemming panic buying, even as the reality of scarce supply encourages drivers to fill up if they happen to spot a station able to sell gas.

At this Shell station on Southwest 27th Avenue and U.S. 1, a fuel truck arrived Tuesday. But a steady stream of vehicles pulled in once the pumps started flowing, depleting the underground tanks within a few hours. Though diesel was available, the gasoline pumps remained out of order as the Levine Cava team arrived to set up the press conference and after the county employees left for their next event.

As noon approached, dozens of cars and trucks had pulled in and out of the fueling plaza only to see that the pumps weren’t usable.

“I’m an Uber driver. I need gas,” Kassa Mesheesha, 66, said after pulling his van into the station. He was below a quarter tank on the fuel gauge and said he’s been looking for fuel to and from his trip south from his home in North Miami to pick up his daughter from an appointment. “I’ve looked all over the place. I haven’t worked for the last three days.“

Tank topping is the main culprit at this point for the gas shortage at the hundreds of stations owned by Sunshine Gasoline Distributors, according to Maximo Alvarez, the founder and president.

He said the typical motorist at a Sunshine station purchases between 10 and 17 gallons per stop, enough to fill up between half and three-quarters of an average tank. Since gas lines began forming after the Port Everglades flood, that average purchase has plunged to between just three and six gallons per stop when a Sunshine station has gas.

“This is why I can assure you it’s panic,” he said Thursday. “This is so unnecessary. There is plenty of fuel.”

A station next to the company’s Doral headquarters, an Exxon at 1690 NW 87th Avenue, usually goes through 3,000 gallons of fuel each day. Sunshine has focused deliveries to that location because the Doral police are there to control traffic and make sure trucks can get in and out quickly. With a steady supply of fuel, demand has skyrocketed to 30,000 gallons a day, Alvarez said.

“The consumer is panicking,” he said, comparing the run on gasoline to the bulk buying of toilet paper in the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

He’s urging drivers not to top off tanks, and instead return to normal patterns of fuel purchases so people near empty can get their chance to fill up. His advice: wait until a tank is only at a quarter of a tank before getting in a gas line.

“The message to the consumer is: Please please continue your normal routine,” he said. “Buy gas only when you need it.”

Levine Cava said she’s trying to encourage drivers who have a few days’ worth of gas in their tanks to skip fuel stations so that those in more desperate need can purchase fuel.

“We really think that people can relax, and now that gas is here in the area, things should normalize quickly,” she said. “People are topping off their tanks more than they normally would. .. That’s why we’re getting out the message that gas is here... There is sufficient gas supply if we don’t hoard.”