Gas Lines Forming

Polyana (don't you just love that name at times like these?) da Costa and Carlton Proctor of the Pensacola News Journal report on line at mid-day that "Panhandle area residents have started to line up at gas stations to fill up their tanks in preparation for Hurricane Katrina."

There's more:

Haruka Umeda, a worker at Raceway, a Gulf Breeze station, said people were buying an average of $100 of gasoline for generators and vehicles. She received a delivery this morning but is not expecting it to last beyond tonight.

Larry Adkinson, owner of a station in Cervantes said traffic has started to pick up at his station as well. He still has 4,000 gallons of gas left, which he expects to last for a couple days.

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"We’re busy, busy, busy," said Stephanie Young, store manager at a Shell station on Mobile Highway. "We ran out last night, but got another truck in about 2 a.m., so we’re in good shape. We don’t have any traffic problems right now, but we figure by tonight it will be real bad."

"We’ve been slammed since 6 a.m.," said Neel Clark, assistant store manager [of a Shell station on Mobile Highway]. ... We’re out of regular gas, but we’ve got plenty of premium."

At the Circle K on Langley Avenue, store clerk Lisa Stacey said they have run out of regular, but have a truck on the way with another shipment.

Unlike the mad rush prior to Hurricane Dennis last month, the good news is that there is plenty of gas product available in the Pensacola area, said Tom Kelly, a spokesman for Radcliff Economy Marine, also know as Mocar.

The daily morning Pensacola News Journal is posting reporters' Hurricane Katrina stories today as they are filed.