“Can you believe this? This is crazy,” Mr. Kurasz, a Bayonne resident, said from the front seat of his silver Envoy. “I remember the last time we went through this, in the ’70s. It’s strange to be back here again.”
His plight mirrored that of thousands of others in New York and New Jersey, who, despite the best efforts of the government, were left without gas. Epic lines, frustration, disappointment and some confusion were the order of the day.
Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York, and the Pentagon made an all-out effort to speed gas to the troubled region. Mr. Christie ordered odd- and even-day gas rationing. Mr. Cuomo waved a tax for fuel barges, and told New Yorkers they could get 10 gallons of gas without charge from fuel trucks across the region provided by the federal government. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said police officers had to be sent to service stations to keep order.
But little seemed to work.
After swarms of drivers in New York descended to fill their tanks at fuel trucks stationed around the city — a line in the Bronx was three miles long, a National Guard spokesman said — emergency management officials decided to reserve the fuel for emergency vehicles and first responders because there was not enough to go around.
As part of expanding efforts to help the region, the Defense Department said Saturday that plans had been put into motion to provide fuel directly to gas stations in New York and New Jersey that have run dry. The department will send generators — along with National Guard troops to operate and secure them — to gas stations unable to pump fuel because they are in areas still blacked out by the storm, officials said.
But on Saturday drivers across the New York region were bundled in their cars, many boiling with frustration. Delmy Zelaya, 61, from Astoria, Queens, heard there was more gas in Brooklyn, so she drove there Friday night. She ran out of gas before finding a station — then abandoned her car. It took her two buses to get back home. The next day she was able to get gas at a Sunoco in Astoria, so she filled up a container and was on her way to return to Brooklyn via subway to retrieve her car. “I’m frustrated,” she said.
At the same station, Peter Cabot, who also lives in Astoria, said that people who were waiting in line had been getting into one another’s faces. “Every time that happens, they threaten to close down the gas station,” he said, adding that only angered people who had been waiting in line. “So it’s a Catch-22.”
Just before 7 p.m., the Astoria Sunoco station ran out of gas. Police officers arrived, cordoned off the area with caution tape and urged drivers to leave and find other stations. At least one driver could be heard cursing.
Few drivers in the region had a longer wait than Renee Blakely, 43, who was bundled up against the cold in the driver’s seat of her Saab on Saturday evening at a Mobil station in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. She said she arrived there at 4 p.m. Friday, left at 8 p.m. — leaving the car at the empty pump — walked to her home in Crown Heights, took a shower, made some soup, then returned at 4 a.m. She said she planned to remain in her car until gas arrived — whenever that might be.
“I got my iPod and my cellphone fully charged,” said Ms. Blakely, a bus driver for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. “I’m just going to sit it out.”
She explained she did not want to risk running out of the little remaining gas in her tank while waiting in line at another station that had gas.
“I’ve been through worse,” she added, explaining that she had lived through three hurricanes while living in North Carolina and had also successfully battled cancer. “I’m a trooper. I can beat this.”
The various efforts from all levels of government also created some confusion. At a news conference late Saturday afternoon, Mr. Bloomberg said New Yorkers could take their cars to be refueled at federal trucks. But by that point, the decision had already been made that the fuel would be available only for emergency vehicles and first responders.
Outside the city, suburban residents also faced challenges. Mr. Christie’s plan for odd- and even-day rationing left some motorists confused — and frustrated.
“I mean, rationing? Really?” said Lucy Patrick, 51, from an Exxon station line in Bayonne. “I think I’m about to give up on the whole tristate area,” she said. “I’m thinking about moving to Miami. I know they have more hurricanes, but they seem better prepared than we are here. This is crazy.”
Reporting was contributed by Thomas Kaplan, Christopher Maag, Sarah Maslin Nir, Marc Santora, Kirk Semple, Thomas Shanker and Bernard Vaughan.
Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/04/nyregion/gas-rationing-is-new-burden-after-hurricane-sandy.html?partner=rss&emc=rss