While some New Yorkers are demanding power from Mayor Bloomberg, others are livid about the lack of gas. Long lines stretch down blocks as drivers wait for up to six hours or more to fill their tanks, reports the Daily News. In Brooklyn alone, one man was arrested for cutting a snaking line with a petrol can.
The already-edgy crowd erupted when one man tried to cut the FEMA line with a 2-gallon gas can — and it took six police officers to restrain him from getting his precious fuel. The gas hog was eventually cuffed and taken away, as much for his own safety as anything.
"It's not good getting into fights over little things like this," said local resident Sandra Dyer after watching several near fistfights. "People get killed over things like this." …
The FEMA tanker truck was one of five mobile fuel stations coming to the city and Long Island, offering gratis gas to motorists. But the 8,000-gallon vehicle didn't carry enough fuel to fill every car snaking a dozen blocks through Brooklyn – not to mention those carrying gas cans for generators.
Some New Yorkers headed north to Connecticut in search of shorter lines and flowing fuel. Those who stayed closer to home were left wondering if they could make it to work or church — or even out of their parking spaces.
In addition, the department of defense is also sending help, according the New York Times:
The Obama administration, realizing the political peril if it were to be blamed for fuel shortages in the days before the election, significantly accelerated its response on Friday.
It authorized the Defense Department to hire hundreds of trucks that will be used to deliver 12 million gallons each of gasoline and diesel fuel, mostly from commercial suppliers, to staging areas in New Jersey. The department is handling the task because its Defense Logistics Agency has contracting powers that enable it to move quickly.
Read more at the Daily News and the New York Times.
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