The interminable delay stretched to 16 hours at one Bay Ridge gas station, where would-be customers sat helplessly. Not even the promise of $10 in free FEMA gas calmed tensions in one tense 12-block queue along Bedford Ave. in Brooklyn, where tempers flared as desperate drivers tried to jump to the front.
“People have been cutting the line like crazy, and there’s nothing you can do about it,” said Adam Brahimaj, 24, after sitting in his car for three hours. He started the day by bicycling to seven shuttered stations with a gas can in tow before the free fuel arrived.
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.”
Gov. Cuomo urged city drivers whose patience and gas gauges were almost empty to hold on a little bit longer, declaring Saturday that the crisis would soon disappear.
It can’t happen soon enough for Tomas Steltz, who spent the morning driving around Brooklyn in a fruitless search for fuel.
“I'm going to run out of gas and I'm freaking out,” said Tomas Steltz, 38, as he pulled up to a Sunoco in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn — and was greeted by a “No Gas” sign.
“I've been driving around all morning,” griped Steltz, who fears he’ll be unable to reach his job as an Astoria restaurant manager. “I heard that there was gas around but I can't find it.”
Cuomo said the reopening of New York Harbor after Hurricane Sandy has already allowed the delivery of 8 million gallons of gas — with another 28 million due in the next few days.
“You will see quickly a real abatement on that pressure on the fuel system,” said Cuomo as lines outside local gas stations stretched endlessly.
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.
Elliott Lamour, 53, left his Crown Heights apartment Saturday only to find his car blocked in by the gas-crazed drivers.
“They don’t know that this is causing this kind of traffic problem?” he asked “I don’t get it. Why don’t they just take the gas to the stations?”
Most stations were still closed throughout Brooklyn, although there were reports of sporadic pumping at random outlets.
“This was truly a crisis,” Cuomo said at his morning briefing. "This is one of the worst storms that has hit this metropolitan area in generations.
“So it really is a situation that requires patience and it requires the strength and resilience that New Yorkers are famous for. Fuel is on its way. You don’t have to panic. We don’t need anxiety. We don’t need the lines. Be prudent, but fuel is one the way."
Sen. Charles Schumer noted that the feds were also trucking in 12 million gallons of fuel and transporting generators to help re-open service stations shut down by the storm.
“This was a body blow to New York,” said Schumer, who praised Cuomo and state officials for their efforts. “The worst natural disaster that New York has experienced.”
At one ghost-like gas station in Bay Ridge, out of fuel since Thursday, a ragtag group of motorists kept vigil in hopes of its reopening.
“This is absolutely insane,” said Lee Fenstemaker, 42, of Bay Ridge. “I think I'm getting delirious. I've been here for 16 hours. I haven't slept. I feel stupid. “We have no choice but stick together. It's a matter of survival at this point.”
By Matthew Lysiak , Edgar Sandoval , Greg B. Smith AND Larry Mcshane / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
No comments:
Post a Comment