Colonial Pipeline delays restart of gas lines until Tuesday

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Colonial Pipeline Co, which supplies gasoline to much of the eastern United States, announced Sunday that it will delay the restart of the fuel line until Tuesday.

[PAST COVERAGE: Gov. Cooper declares state of emergency to maintain NC gas supply]

The company shut down its fuel line Thursday due to damage sustained when Hurricane Harvey pummeled the Gulf Coast. The company says it is working to quickly repair facilities damaged by the storm and regain access to the pipelines.

To help maintain fuel supply, Colonial has continued to ship gasoline and other products from its Louisiana-based refineries and others in its system.

Gas prices around Charlotte continue to climb and drivers are following the spike.

"I saw one day it went up like 20 cents within the day, and I was like, ‘Wow, what is going on?,” driver Kevin Gibson said. “Then I read an article online and was, ‘Oh, it's from Harvey.’"

There are a few pumps around Charlotte without gas, but for now, emergency measures by the state to bring in more fuel appear to be holding off a widespread shortage.

[GAS PRICE TRACKER]

"They're probably going to have to take a while to inspect all that, otherwise we could look at another catastrophe,” driver Scott Davis said.

Drivers are still feeling the impact in their pocketbooks.

“I should have stacked up on my gas when it was like $1.98, if I would have known that this was gonna happen,” driver Jessica Lam said.

Most drivers are keeping the price spike in perspective.

"Look at the poor folks in Houston,” Davis said. “They got it way worse than we do. We oughta be thankful that's all we gotta deal with is a little bit higher gas price."

The state of emergency issued by the governor also put price gouging laws into effect for the next 45 days.

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