10 days after attack, relief appears for NC drivers needing gas
It's getting easier to find gas in the Triangle and parts of North Carolina, but a look at the pumps on Monday morning shows the distribution is still an issue.
Drivers' frustrations reached a peak last week when gas was unavailable in more than 70% of the state's gas stations at one point. On Sunday night, GasBuddy showed 58% of NC's stations were out of gas. This mark comes after the Colonial Pipeline was hit with a ransomware attack on May 7, forcing them to proactively close down operations.
The shortage is expected to ease on Monday.
One common theme was premium and supreme varieties of gas were more likely to be out. Early on Monday, the Exxon Station near the corner of Western Boulevard and Kent Road in Raleigh had regular and supreme gas, but did not have premium. There were no long lines of drivers waiting to fill up, which was a common sight last week.
GasBuddy's tracker showed fewer stations reporting to be out of fuel on Monday, another good sign.
At last check, the average price of gas was $2.96 a gallon in Wake County, $2.99 in Durham County and $2.92 in Cumberland County. Prices in Raleigh have risen 16 cents in the past week, according to a GasBuddy survey of 472 stations in the Oak City. The price is more than 30 cents per gallon higher than a month ago.
As far as bus schedules, GoDurham will return to normal service starting on Tuesday.
