NJ, NY Residents Come to Lower Bucks for Gas

Gas stations in Levittown are packed with cars - not all of them with Pennsylvania tags.

Cars baring New Jersey and New York license plates could be spotted at the area gas stations that had power Friday afternoon.

At the Wawa gas station on Oxford Valley Road in Middletown, Augie Michaels said he traveled from his Somerset County, N.J. hometown to get 16 gallons of gas to power his DuroStar generator for the next several days.

“It’s hard to find gas in New Jersey,” he said. “If there isn’t a line that’s a mile long, it’s in a bad neighborhood. Either way, most are out of the stuff.”

Michaels was not alone.

Willie Webster drove the highways from Princeton, N.J. to Levittown to fuel up his green 2006 Cadillac CTS.

“I need the gas to fill my tank. Before this, I was almost out,” said the elderly part-time store cashier and former union steelworker.

Levittown resident Derek Doernbach said he talked to a group of men from Brooklyn who were filling up orange five-gallon buckets with gasoline at a gas station in Tullytown. The men said there was no gas in Brooklyn.

"Holy Crap, I hope they don't get into an accident on the way back," Doernbach wrote in a message to Patch.

At several other area gas stations, a mix of local and out-of-state plates were seen.

In the wake of the destruction caused by Hurricane Sandy, gas stations closed due to lack of power and no fuel deliveries.

Those that remained opened were packed. Some stations in New Jersey and New York had a wait of several hours, the Associated Press reported.

The Wall Street Journal and other media outlets reported that gas shortages in New Jersey are expected to ease as the New York harbor reopens to tankers. A return of power and cleared roads is expected to help.