Gas stations try to keep up with demand

By Mary Hood (Contact) | The Natchez Democrat

Published Thursday, September 4, 2008

NATCHEZ — When power came back on for a portion of Natchez and a handful of gas stations Wednesday, residents found themselves waiting in 10-car-deep lines for fuel.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Zippy’s on Martin Luther King Jr. Street, the Murphy USA station at Wal-Mart, the Citgo on U.S. 61 South, the Exxon on Morgantown Road and the Go Mart on U.S. 61 South were all open.

James Satcher, county resident, was near the back of the line at the Exxon on Morgantown Road.

Though his truck had a full tank, he had two five-gallon gas cans with him for his generator.

He still did not have electricity back and was running on generator power alone, which requires a lot of fuel, he said.

He said he gets about eight hours of power from five gallons of fuel.

Satcher said he was relieved that a few gas stations were still open so he could continue to run his generator — even if it meant waiting 30 minutes to fill up the cans.

The Go Mart was only open for about an hour when owners had to order a new truckload of gas, but the truck came Wednesday afternoon. Adams County EMA Director Stan Owens advised residents to call the gas stations before going to make sure they were open. He said, however about 90 percent of the city’s electricity would be restored this morning, bringing gas stations online with it.