State of Emergency now declared in Florida, Virginia, Georgia and North Carolina

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