Rising gas prices: Is Hurricane Ian to blame?

Stephanie Haines
·1 min read

(NewsNation) — The nation saw falling gas prices for 99 days straight over the summer, but now, gas prices have gone up 4 cents over the past week. And people are anxious that Hurricane Ian might be to blame.

According to AAA, the national gas average is now at $3.73 per gallon, whereas on Sept. 21, the national average was at $3.68 per gallon.

But don’t worry just yet. AAA told NewsNation that gas prices are going up slightly because of refinery issues on the West Coast and in the Midwest, not because of the hurricane headed toward Florida.

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There was even a fire at one of the refineries in Ohio last week, which killed two workers. However, the refinery is expected to be back up and running within a week.

Gas prices also rose the same day as the Federal Reserve announced another interest rate hike as part of an effort to ease inflation and keep the nation from entering a recession.

AAA said Hurricane Ian won’t have an impact on gas prices because the storm would have to head toward the refineries near Texas and Louisiana instead of Florida.

For the people in the path of Hurricane Ian, GasBuddy launched a new app to help residents find fuel and power sources during the storm. Users of the app will also be able to report if a gas station is out of fuel.

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