Florida, Virginia, Georgia and North Carolina declare states of emergency over gas shortages after Colonial Pipeline hack as 1,000 fuel stations run dry in Southeast as people panic buy
- Ralph Northam and Brian Kemp, governors of Virginia and Georgia, declared a state of emergency Tuesday
- On Monday the governor of North Carolina, Roy Cooper, took a similar step to deal with the fuel crisis
- The moves are designed to limit the fallout from the Colonial Pipeline hack, which began on Thursday
- The pipeline was shut from Friday to Monday due to a ransomware attack from Russia-based hackers
- The 5,500-mile pipeline is being brought back on line but service will not be fully restored until end of week
- The national average for retail gasoline was $2.985 on Tuesday – a seven-year high
- The last time average gas prices were above $2.99 was back in November 2014
- Fears of a looming shortage have already prompted panic buying with gas stations running out of fuel
- Motorists were also lining up in Florida, North Carolina, Georgia and Virginia
- The pipeline, which runs from Texas to New Jersey, transports 45% of the East Coast’s supply
- The FBI has confirmed that hacking collective DarkSide was responsible for the attack
- Colonial, which is based in Atlanta, Georgia, has not yet said whether it paid a ransom with the hackers
- Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday denied any involvement