Vast majority of DC gas stations without fuel amid panic buying

An overwhelming majority of gas stations in Washington, D.C., were without gasoline on Friday as parts of the East Coast continued to face shortages that analysts have largely attributed to panic buying.

As of late Friday afternoon, 81 percent of gas stations in the District were out of fuel, according to gas price website GasBuddy, which crowdsources data on gasoline availability. 

Earlier in the day, the site was reporting as many as 88 percent of city stations going dry.

Christopher Rodriguez, the city’s director of homeland security and emergency management, urged people to only drive for essential trips and to use public transportation when they can. 

“The District is experiencing impacts to gasoline availability due to the cyberattack earlier this week on the Colonial Pipeline Company,” Rodriguez said in a statement. 

“While Colonial Pipeline has restarted its pipeline system, we urge residents to drive for essential trips only, use public transportation—including the free DC Circulator when possible—and schedule errands close together,” he added. 

The states surrounding D.C. were also facing significant though less dramatic outages, with 45 percent of Virginia stations and 39 percent of Maryland stations having no fuel as of late Friday afternoon, according to GasBuddy.

People began hoarding and panic buying gas after the recent shutdown of the Colonial Pipeline due to a cyberattack. The company provides a significant amount of the East Coast’s gasoline. Since then, the pipeline has restarted its system and is once again delivering fuel to the areas it serves.

Analysts told The Hill on Friday that they generally expect shortages to last at least a few more days.