Fears of gas-supply shortages caused by Hurricane Ike’s savaging of the oil-rich Texas coastline led to price surges across the country yesterday – leaving New York motorists feeling the bite.
“Gas is so high, I am going to go in the woods to get a few deer to help me pull my car,” joked Chris Brown at a Getty station in East Hampton, where prices have leapt 16 cents, to $4.19 a gallon.
In other parts of the country, prices shot up more than $1 a gallon since Ike hit land early Saturday. In Knoxville, Tenn., a gallon of gas cost as much as $5.19. In Muscle Shoals, Ala., it hit $5.30.
Javed Iqbal, the manager at a Mobil station on West Street in Manhattan, said he has been forced to raise prices by 6 cents a gallon to $4.09.
“Everybody complains, but there is nothing I can do. The price just goes up, it never comes down,” he said.
Beth Shiffer, 49, of TriBeCa, said she was feeling the hit deeply.
“At this rate, I’m not going to have enough money for [my kids’] college education,” she said as she gassed up her Ford Mustang convertible. “It’s just another added expense. The whole thing is upsetting.”