THINGS are getting ugly in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy.
Motorists fumed in long lines at petrol stations around the metropolitan area and yelled at one another overnight as fuel shortages hindered the region's efforts to recover four days after Superstorm Sandy.
The US death toll climbed past 90 in 10 states, and included two boys who were torn from their mother's grasp by swirling floodwaters in Staten Island during the storm. Their bodies were found in a marshy area on Thursday.
At a Hess petrol station in the Gowanus section of Brooklyn, the line snaked at least 10 blocks through narrow and busy streets. That caused confusion among other drivers, some of whom accidentally found themselves in the petrol line. People got out of their cars to yell at them.
Gas shortage
Hundreds of people in need of petrol have queued up in New Jersey to purchase as much as possible. Source: Getty Images
.
In addition, at least 60 people were lined up to fill red petrol cans for their generators.
Vince Levine got in line in his van at 5 am. By 8 am, he was still two dozen cars from the front. "I had a half-tank when I started. I've got a quarter-tank now," he said.
"There's been a little screaming, a little yelling. And I saw one guy banging on the hood of a car. But mostly it's been OK," he said.
Cabdriver Harum Prince joined a nearly mile-long line for petrol in Manhattan. The line stretched 17 blocks down 10th Avenue, with about half the cars yellow cabs, a crucial means of getting around in a city with a still-crippled mass-transit system.
Gas shortage
"I don't blame anybody," he said. "God, he knows why he brought this storm."
In Queens, a man was charged Thursday with flashing a gun at another motorist who complained he was cutting in line.
Damage from the storm has disrupted fuel deliveries to petrol stations. And power outages left many stations unable to pump petrol.
More 3.8 million homes and business in the East were still without power, down from a peak of 8.5 million.
As local resident Chris Woehrle said on Facebook:
“Fist fights in gas lines and police drawing guns on people to stop them. Only a couple of days into this and civilization is rapidly breaking down. Another week of this and it’ll be full-on Thunderdome out there.”
Petrol is now running out at many stations, as people queue on foot with containers to fill their home power generators.
The fact that people are in proximity to each other, rather than being struck in their cars, is another factor turning rage into violence.
Motorists fumed in long lines at petrol stations around the metropolitan area and yelled at one another overnight as fuel shortages hindered the region's efforts to recover four days after Superstorm Sandy.
The US death toll climbed past 90 in 10 states, and included two boys who were torn from their mother's grasp by swirling floodwaters in Staten Island during the storm. Their bodies were found in a marshy area on Thursday.
At a Hess petrol station in the Gowanus section of Brooklyn, the line snaked at least 10 blocks through narrow and busy streets. That caused confusion among other drivers, some of whom accidentally found themselves in the petrol line. People got out of their cars to yell at them.
Gas shortage
Hundreds of people in need of petrol have queued up in New Jersey to purchase as much as possible. Source: Getty Images
.
In addition, at least 60 people were lined up to fill red petrol cans for their generators.
Vince Levine got in line in his van at 5 am. By 8 am, he was still two dozen cars from the front. "I had a half-tank when I started. I've got a quarter-tank now," he said.
"There's been a little screaming, a little yelling. And I saw one guy banging on the hood of a car. But mostly it's been OK," he said.
Cabdriver Harum Prince joined a nearly mile-long line for petrol in Manhattan. The line stretched 17 blocks down 10th Avenue, with about half the cars yellow cabs, a crucial means of getting around in a city with a still-crippled mass-transit system.
Gas shortage
"I don't blame anybody," he said. "God, he knows why he brought this storm."
In Queens, a man was charged Thursday with flashing a gun at another motorist who complained he was cutting in line.
Damage from the storm has disrupted fuel deliveries to petrol stations. And power outages left many stations unable to pump petrol.
More 3.8 million homes and business in the East were still without power, down from a peak of 8.5 million.
As local resident Chris Woehrle said on Facebook:
“Fist fights in gas lines and police drawing guns on people to stop them. Only a couple of days into this and civilization is rapidly breaking down. Another week of this and it’ll be full-on Thunderdome out there.”
Petrol is now running out at many stations, as people queue on foot with containers to fill their home power generators.
The fact that people are in proximity to each other, rather than being struck in their cars, is another factor turning rage into violence.
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