'People have overreacted': Panic-buying fuels 2nd day of Greater Victoria gas shortage
Thursday marked the second day of frenzy at Greater Victoria gas stations, with many stations sold out of fuel and waiting to be resupplied.
Those gas shipments are slowly coming and experts say panic-buying at the pumps is making the situation worse.
After heavy rains washed out a portion of the Malahat highway, many people got spooked and began to fuel up their vehicles in case there was a gas shortage. Experts say that run on fuel actually created a fuel shortage.
“There is product available,” said Eric Gault, director of operations for Peninsula Co-op. “We just can’t get it through the bottleneck at this time.”
Gault says there is plenty of fuel on Vancouver Island. The problem is getting it over the Malahat from three storage facilities in Chemainus and Nanaimo.
As of Thursday morning, some fuel trucks had made it over the Malahat.
“For us, we took four loads of product and spread it around five locations this morning which certainly helped,” said Gault.
A Petro-Canada in Colwood also got a shipment overnight as well.
The good news is the gas you fill your car with on the island isn’t shipped through B.C.'s flood-ravaged mainland.
“I think people have overreacted,” said Dan McTeague, president of Canadians for Affordable Energy.
McTeague says Vancouver Island gets most of its gas from three refineries in Washington state. The fuel gets barged to those storage facilities on the Mid-Island, directly from those refineries.
"There should not to be any type of shortages or very few anyways as far as Vancouver Island and us here in Victoria are concerned,” he said.
McTeague added that it could be a week or more before the supply catches up with demand.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'One of the single most terrifying things ever': Ontario couple among passengers on sinking tour boat in Dominican Republic
A Toronto couple are speaking out about their 'extremely dangerous' experience on board a sinking tour boat in the Dominican Republic last week.
What Canadians think of the latest Liberal budget
A new poll suggests the Liberals have not won over voters with their latest budget, though there is broad support for their plan to build millions of homes.
opinion Why you should protect your investments by naming a trusted contact person
Appointing a trusted person to help with financial obligations can give you peace of mind. In his personal finance column for CTVNews.ca, Christopher Liew outlines the key benefits of naming a confidant to take over your financial responsibilities, if the need ever arises.
Teacher shortages see some Ontario high school students awarded perfect grades on midterm exams
Students at a high school in York Region have been awarded perfect marks on their midterm exams in three subjects – not because of their academic performances however, but because they had no teacher.
'My stomach dropped': Winnipeg man speaks out after being criminally harassed following single online date
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.
Photographer alleges he was forced to watch Megan Thee Stallion have sex and was unfairly fired
A photographer who worked for Megan Thee Stallion said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that he was forced to watch her have sex, was unfairly fired soon after and was abused as her employee.
Ottawa injects another $36M into vaccine injury compensation fund
The federal government has added $36.4 million to a program designed to support people who have been seriously injured or killed by vaccines since the end of 2020.
An Ontario senior thought he called Geek Squad for help with his printer. Instead, he got scammed out of $25,000
An Ontario senior’s attempt to get technical help online led him into a spoofing scam where he lost $25,000. Now, he’s sharing his story to warn others.
Her fiance has been in prison for 49 years. She's trying to free him before it's too late
Christine Roess is a retired consultant. Ezra Bozeman has spent the last 49 years in prison, serving a life sentence for a murder he says he didn’t commit. Against the odds, the two fell in love.