Here's Where And How People Are Freaking Out About Gas

People in the east and southeast are freaking out after the recent Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack. Its left people fighting for gas in some areas, while in others people are treating gas like they were treating toilet paper and cleaning supplies at the beginning of the pandemic. Rory thinks the whole thing is being blown out of proportion.

This morning, we asked readers if people in their area were freaking out about the gas shortages in their areas. These were their responses.

Welcome back to Answers of the Day, our daily Jalopnik feature where we take the best responses to the previous Question of the Day and shine them up to show off. It's by you and for you, Jalopnik readers. Enjoy!

Rural town. Middle of nowhere Virginia.

People at work: "I read on Facebook where Russia is hacking our gas, wants us to buy theirs" "gas will run out by this weekend", "take every car you own and fill it up".

Me, with no where to drive, 3/4ths of a tank of gas from a fill-up a month ago. 1/2 mile commute to work: *Shrug*, drive home, eat dinner.

It's paper towels and toilet paper all over again. If pumps are empty it's because of self-fulfilling prophecy, not scarcity.

Suggested by: Battery Tender Unnecessary

I'm in the Chamblee/Dorallville area just outside of Atlanta and all the gas stations around me are out of gas or about to run out. Good times seeing everyone panic buying gas.

Suggested by: Eric Carros (Facebook)

My girlfriend, who has no choice but to get to her essential job, spent three hours before midnight in Northern Virginia attempting to get gas at four different stations so she and her carpooling essentially-employed neighbor could get to work this morning. She eventually succeeded. There sure as shit was a gas shortage, even though she wasn't panicking.

Suggested by: Daveinva

I'm in the Phoenix suburbs. The station nearest my house was completely out yesterday, but the next nearest – on a lesser-traveled street – still had fuel as of last night.

Of course, at that station was some asshat in a nondescript sedan who had filled two big Jerry cans in his open trunk and was in the process of filling a third.

#thisiswhywecanthavenicethings

Suggested by: Clay De Santa Fe (Facebook)

I'm here in the Mid-Atlantic and folks are losing their minds. Ran a few errands yesterday and was going to stop for gas at Costco since I was near a quarter of a tank. The line was so long, the police had to come and direct traffic around it. Had plenty to make it home and since I'm still working remote, I figure I will park my truck for a few days and wait this thing out. I have two 5 gallon cans of fuel in my garage (filled up two weeks ago) that I use for my lawnmower and pressure washer so I'm not the least bit worried.

Oh and to all these people that are hoarding gas like toilet paper – you do know that unless you add stabilizer to it, gas goes bad after a few months, right?

Suggested by: Issa Trap

Richmond, VA here... Many stations around me are empty with no timeframe on the next truck arrival. Love having to buy 93 octane at high prices!

Suggested by: John Glenn Rhodes Jr.

No shortage in TX, but that didn't stop them from jacking prices overnight, just for fun. And yes, I topped off with 6 gallons just in case prices stay high for a while. Hoping I won't have to buy again until things return to normal. The kid is down to 1/4 tank, so his payday fill-up will cost him an extra $10, which isn't the end of the world, but isn't nothing for a high schooler with a part time job.

Suggested by: Daddio

Here in Raleigh, NC people are panic buying. We drove past several gas stations on the way to the lake, both urban and rural with long, long lines of cars waiting to fuel up. My social feeds are full of people complaining that they can't find gas. I haven't tried hitting the pumps yet because we won't need to do much driving for the next few days. I was planning on putting my WaveRunners in the water, but the gas crunch has changed that.

Suggested by: Kaiser Khan

Judging from the gas lines I've seen at Costco these past few days, the gas shortage in NJ after hurricane Sandy is still fresh in a lot of people's minds.

I'm happy to hop on the look-at-these-panic-buying-morons bandwagon, but nope. A real shortage happened such a short time ago. I don't blame NJ folks one bit.

Suggested by: Nekkid_Snek

I think I'll be fine here in Ohio, but I'm also in the "Trump Is Still President As Far As I'm Concerned" part of Ohio, so there's still a good chance that people will start hoarding gas any day now.

The catch-22 of these situations – is that the panic buyers force those who don't want to get caught up in the panic to join in. Your choice either be a victim or be part of the problem, and that sucks. I saw a lot of people last year refuse to go stock up on supplies while it was still on the shelves, then a few weeks later were pleading on social media for help finding baby formula, toilet paper, cleaning supplies, etc.

Suggested by: dbeach84

Pensacola, Florida here – no gas to be had. Every station has bags over the pumps – and my area isn't even serviced by the pipeline. Our gas is trucked in from Texas and Louisiana. Combination of pants-on-head panic buying, and the local gasoline terminal – whatever that is – flunking an EPA test and being on slowdown to fix some things.

My band has a gig on Saturday over in Gulf Shores, Alabama, and I am genuinely worried about having any gas to get there.

Suggested by: Joe The Drummer

Yes they are freaking out. But there are a lot of gas stations out in the county that people don't know about. It's a perk living outside of a city that is growing fast (Huntsville AL).

I needed to fill up yesterday anyways because I was about to hit E. I went at lunch and it was not too bad. But when I got off work at 4:30pm there was a line at the big Mapco station.

If it gets really crazy I will drive me tractor to work since I filled it up last week and have 5 gallon diesel cans full. It's only 6 miles to work, so about a 45min commute lol.

Suggested by: Nemo