Sunday, November 4, 2012

Desperation at the Gas Pumps

There were whiffs of desperation mixed with the gasoline fumes as drivers and pedestrians waited in lines 100 cars deep to fill their tanks while many stations simply ran out of fuel.

@MetroGypsy reported on Twitter that someone pulled a knife at a station in Greenpoint, Brooklyn:

Police officers were posted at several stations throughout the city, helping direct traffic and keeping tensions in check.

@ChasingTamara said the New York Police Department had taken over gas stations for government use, but the New York Police Department would not immediately say whether or not they had. A call to Norma Limo and Taxi, which initially verified the report, was not immediately returned.

At least one crowd-sourced map has surfaced allowing drivers in New Jersey to share precious information about which stations have gas and which have run dry. Twitter users are sending out the locations of stations that have fuel using the hashtag #NYCgas. Some stations are limiting customers to five gallons.

The price is at a premium. A photogra ph of a sign posted on Instagram advertised prices for the various grades as “arm, leg, soul and kids.”

Some drivers have gone from station to station, only to face lines of yellow caution tape.

As Corey Kilgannon of The New York Times noted, “The gas-siphoning hath begun.”



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