From Staff Reports
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Fuel availability at Wylie stations continued Friday like the arcade game Whack-A-Mole as one location received a new load as another ran out.

Panic buying has artificially triggered fuel shortages in North Texas as motorists flocked to the pumps after refineries on the Gulf Coast were shut down in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey.

Texas Railroad Commissioner Ryan Sitton directly blames panic buying for gas lines and shortages, pointing out that Texas has plenty of fuel but must redirect transportation from other refineries. Sitton urged motorists to wait three to four days to fill the vehicles and availability should be near normal again.

Friday morning, motorists in Wylie lined up at the stations that had gasoline, some of them waiting more than an hour to get to a pump. At Race Trac on Hwy. 78, motorists parked at idled pumps to await the next fuel delivery.

Wait times at stations of more than an hour have been posted on several online sites and the price of fuel increased from about $2.10 for regular early in the week to $2.59 per gallon, or more.

Availability can be checked at tracker.gasbuddy.com.