- Here's how to get your flooding debris picked up by the City of Houston
- Mosquito activity on the rise due to rainfall, flooding across Texas
- Volunteers help Conroe community clean up in wake of flooding in Montgomery County
- Why leaders are urging NC residents to start hurricane prep now
- Storms could produce hail, damaging winds south of Charlotte
Colonial Pipeline temporarily shuts down 2 fuel lines as Hurricane Ida makes landfall
Colonial expects the pipeline to return to full service as the storm moves out of the region but will first be subject to evaluations and “successful execution of the company’s start-up plan.”
Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, says shutting down lines during a storm is not an uncommon practice and believes the aftermath of Ida isn’t likely to lead to “drastic price increases” but says there may be some increases in the next two weeks.
Keeping in mind the storm hasn’t cleared the area and storm assessments could change this, I still feel pretty confident in these figures. Again, Hurricane Ida isn’t likely to lead to drastic price increases, but some increases are likely over the next ~2 weeks. https://t.co/fGxOqKuHsI
— Patrick De Haan ⛽️📊 (@GasBuddyGuy) August 29, 2021
The average cost of gas in North Carolina sits at 2.8887 while the national average is 3.148 on Sunday, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA).
“Our thoughts and prayers are with our neighbors and colleagues across the southern coastline impacted by this extreme weather event,” said Wes Dunbar, vice president of operations for Colonial Pipeline. “As part of our weather preparedness and response plans, we have procedures in place to ensure the safety, protection and integrity of our pipeline and our assets – including proactively shutting down our lines when necessary.”
The company says prior to Hurricane Ida it implemented its own emergency response plan to continue safe operation of the pipeline which included reviewing protocol, ensuring emergency response equipment was up to date, reviewing contracts and monitoring forecast systems.
Earlier this year, Colonial Pipeline was forced to go offline after a large-scale ransomware attack that led many to panic buy and an eventual gas shortage across the southern U.S.
Copyright © 2021 WTVD-TV. All Rights Reserved.