Easing the difficulty of locating open gas stations in Baton Rouge
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BATON ROUGE - Long lines of cars wrap around gas stations and spill into Baton Rouge streets Wednesday morning.
With access to fuel severely limited, locals are waiting in line for hours in hopes of getting enough gas for their vehicles and generators amid the widespread power outages caused by Hurricane Ida.
Many have learned that a great way to avoid driving around in search of gas is to download an app that lets users know which stations have available fuel.
GasBuddy is one such app, and though it was originally designed to direct users to the cheapest gas in a particular area, as Hurricane Ida impacted the Gulf South the app began to include a Fuel Availability Tracker. The Tracker was made to help users find stations that have fuel and power.
WBRZ's Dana DiPiazza took to the streets Wednesday morning and interviewed people who were waiting in line for gas.
People are skipping the hours-long line to get gas by parking near the station and walking to the pumps with gas cans.
— Dana DiPiazza (@danawbrz) September 1, 2021
Management called for backup to handle this overwhelming demand @ Murphy Express on Florida. The store just welcomed a few more employees from TX to assist. pic.twitter.com/5mXdh7OEL4
DiPiazza went to the Murphy Express gas station on Florida Boulevard and Wooddale Boulevard where a long line of cars was spilling over into the street.
The line appeared around 4 a.m., long before the station was even open for business, as drivers who were determined to get much-needed fuel, removed the gas station's barricades and made their way onto the property.
One family from Hammond was fueling up as they told DiPiazza they'd been in line since about 6 a.m.
Now 7:30 a.m., the family said, "Hammond lines are wrapped, wrapped! Then, by the time you've sat there for hours, and you get there, they're closing the lines off, saying no more gas until the next day. So, we've (been) riding over all places, they say the closest to us is Mississippi, McComb. So, I chose to come to Baton Rouge."
In any case, the search for gas continues as outages continue to impact Louisiana. Click here for more on what local energy companies are doing to address the outages.