JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A propane shortage is hitting Florida and dealers told Channel 4 Thursday night that they're quickly running out of stock and aren't sure when they'll get a refill on propane.
People who use propane to heat their homes are being told they have to ration how much of the fuel they can buy as the national propane shortage has made its way to Florida.
Channel 4 spoke with folks at the AA Bottled Gas company on Main Street in Jacksonville, who said they've had to tell customers that there's now a limit on how much propane they can buy.
"They informed us yesterday that the gas we were getting yesterday is all we were going to get," said Gene Thigpen. "They didn't tell us when or why, but said shipping all up north just to cover the ice and snow."
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Thigpen said he's not happy. Without more supply soon, he said he'll be out of business.
"It makes me real mad. This is our livelihood right here. In two weeks we could be out of business. If we don't get gas we could be out of business in two weeks," said Thigpen.
Thigpen's distributor told him the supply is being redirected to more northern and Midwest states, which are in the middle of a brutal winter and need the propane for heating purposes.
"Some of the pipelines they're getting gas from are all dried up, so they're shipping it all up north and shutting out the people in Florida," said Tigpen, "which is not right, but 20 degrees here is 20 degrees there. We just don't have snow. There's older people who use this as their only form of heat. They're hurting like everybody else. It's not fair."