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Nor'easter Slows Down Gas-Supply Efforts, Governor Says

By DNAinfo Staff | November 8, 2012 2:20pm | Updated on November 8, 2012 5:01pm

NEW YORK CITY — A nor'easter that battered the region on Wednesday set back efforts to get gasoline supplies back to normal levels, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Thursday.

Cuomo updated New Yorkers on the state of the gasoline supply at a Thursday press conference, where he said the tanker-delivery schedule was hindered due to the storm.

"The system is coming together, slowly," Cuomo said. "The storm last night did set us back."

Across the city, New Yorkers still faced long lines and closed pumps as they tried to fill up.

In Brooklyn, many gas stations along busy Atlantic Avenue were shuttered on Thursday, leaving other nearby stations packed.

At a BP station on Bedford Avenue and Lincoln Place in Crown Heights, those waiting in line said they'd come from as far away as Bedford-Stuyvesant and Cypress Hills after becoming stranded searching for gas.

Some stood with gas cans, and others brought less othodox containers, such as Poland Spring water bottles and Arizona Iced Tea jugs.

"I called at least 10 hardware stores this morning — nobody had gas cans," said Troy Lindsey, 47, of Bedford-Stuyvesant. "I drove to 10 gas stations, and nothing was open."

Drivers in Western Queens were still hunting for gas on Thursday.

Dozens of cars and trucks waited in a long line at a Hess Station at Northern Boulevard and 39th Street, where a delivery truck filled with gasoline finally arrived at around 11 a.m.

Some waited for two to three hours, said Kyara Davis, who came to the gas station with her mother Julia.

Davis said they had been driving by when they saw the line of cars and guessed that fuel would be coming soon.

“We kind of got lucky,” she said.

Arturo Trujillo, who works at Blasco Electric, a company located seven blocks away from the Hess station, was filling up a 24-gallon container.

The gas, he said, was for his company’s three trucks.

“I think the situation is getting better,” said Trujillo, adding that he was also able to get gas on Tuesday at a nearby Shell station.

On Thursday, though, the Shell station at Northern Boulevard and 35 Street had no gas. Workers there said the last time they had fuel was Tuesday evening.

At Coastal Gasoline on Guy R Brewer Blvd and Linden Blvd in South Jamaica, things were no better.

"We have lines almost every time we get a shipment" said Ricky Singh, 29, the store's owner of 12 years.

Singh said that they last got a shipment on Tuesday, and the line for gas was almost ten blocks long.

Singh said he ran out of gas 3 hours ago, and tied caution tape around the pumps to let drivers know they're empty.

"We've been telling everybody we're not getting gas today," Singh said.

In Williamsburg and Greenpoint, only two of eight gas stations located within the NYPD's 94th Precinct were open, according to Deputy Inspector Terence Hurson, commanding officer of the precinct.

Turson said he has stationed officers at most open stations, with a particular focus on the Hess Station at Greenpoint Avenue and McGuiness Boulevard, a major intersection.

The lines have gotten so bad, he said, that at times the line at Hess has stretched across the Pulaski Bridge into Queens.

"There’s been no real conflict, but if we’re not there manning traffic it would become unmanageable very quickly," Turson said. "We have to maintain the line as best as we can."