HAMMOND, La. -- As Hurricane Dean neared the Gulf Coast with a healthy chance of reaching Category 5 status this past weekend, local residents still clearly remember the nightmare two years ago that was post-Hurricane Katrina. With no power to run gasoline pumps for almost a week, supply struggled to meet demand as few stores had the capability to power up their pumps.
Nearly two years later, little has changed. A survey of almost two dozen service stations and convenience stores in the southern half of Tangipahoa Parish, La., finds that few options [image-nocss] are available for those in need of gas following a power outage, according to a report in the Hammond Daily Star.
Only three stores in the Hammond and Ponchatoula, La., area own and are prepared to pump gas in the event of a power outage. To be considered prepared, each store must own a generator that has the capability to pump gas and also has gas and oil stored to power the generator.
We appreciate everything those people did, Hammond Mayor Mayson Foster told the newspaper. Two or three stations used generators to power pumps. We even let some use generators so we could get gas.
Cashio's Chevron and Quinn's Texaco Service own generators in Hammond, as well as Harris Gas and Liquor in Ponchatoula. All three were open after Hurricane Katrina hit the area Aug. 29, 2005.
In fact, all three stores claim they were the first to start their generators to supply gas. No other gas stations, however, have come to own generators since Katrina. Meanwhile,Tom Kloza of OPIS (Oil Price Infromation Service) said the next two weeks may bring the most active period for refined products within recent memory.
Demand for gasoline after Katrina was so high at the time that the City of Hammond approached Charles Cashio of Cashio's Chevron about opening his store. Cashio did not own a generator at the time, but he was allowed to use a welding machine that could power the pumps.
Gasoline was pumped throughout the day, supplying both public, private and government vehicles by all three providers.
The city asked if we had gas in the tank, Cashio told the newspaper. So they let me use a welding machine. The city needed the gas to clean the streets and clean things up. I had the gas and was willing to sell it. I just needed the power.
Cashio said once the gas was pumping, the main obstacle was to not run out of gas. If emergency vehicles needed gas in the evening, he might not have any to give. In the week after Katrina, Cashio said times were so busy that he was asking other gas stations to open their doors to lighten the load.
Across town at Quinn's Texaco Service, owner Davey Quinn was also open for service after Katrina, and today he has the capability to power all six pumps in the event of a power outage.
We had people from Washington Parish that needed gas to milk their cows, Quinn said. I gave away a lot of free gas. Some people would drive up with nothing. I would fill them up and tell them to leave.
Like the other two owners, Quinn said a supply truck would refill the station's empty tank each day. Every day for almost a week, Quinn ran out of gasoline but would reopen once restocked.
My daddy opened this store in 1959, Quinn said. This wasn't our first hurricane. There have been a lot of storms. Quinn said he not only sold gasoline for the weeklong period, but fixed a lot of tires and sold oil for generators.
In Ponchatoula, Johnny B. Harris, owner of Harris Gas and Liquor, said his generators are set up and ready to go with a flip of a switch. The generator not only powers the pumps, but will also run the cash register, lights and a fan for the cashier.
Harris said gas was in such high demand in Ponchatoula following Katrina that he had to have a police escort his gas supplier to the location. We don't make a lot of money on gas, but we made it a high priority, Harris said. Our main goal is to take care of our customers.
For an in-depth look at the state of convenience stores along the Gulf Coast two years after Hurricane Katrina, watch for the September issue of CSP Magazine.
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