TAMPA, Fla. – After Hurricane Milton, residents of the Tampa Bay area wait in long lines at gas stations with hundreds of idle pumps. It creates unbridled chaos among customers.

“They fought like fistfights,” said Tootie Jones, a security guard at a local Wawa. “A girl hit another girl with her car, they were really fighting over gas. We couldn’t fix them. We had to call the police because they were really crazy.”

The Pasco Sheriff’s Office is asking people to be patient and respectful after witnessing fights at the gas pumps.

READ: Historic flooding in Pasco County prompts voluntary evacuation order

“When we get these calls about people arguing at gas stations, we stick with it, which just results in more resources being deployed,” said Pasco Sheriff Chris Nocco. “But the problem is that we know that if we leave the problem will just continue and it will come back. Unfortunately, sometimes we find ourselves having to take care of children. And if that’s what we have to do to maintain order, that’s what we’ll do. But unfortunately, let’s all understand, we have very, very limited resources.

He said they had received 177 calls about gas station fights as of Friday afternoon.

“You see lines that are about half a mile long. And then you see people getting very, very upset about whose finish line or which people are getting cut off. So that’s one of the things we tell people, you know: “Calm down,” Nocco said.

However, there is some good news as the weekend begins: relief as Port Tampa Bay gets power back and reopens.

MORE: Rescue operations in Pasco County as flooding increased following Hurricane Milton

“There are currently over 10 oil tankers underway, each carrying over 10 million gallons of refined products en route to Florida. In fact, we already have a tanker sitting outside the Port of Tampa waiting to enter the terminal,” said Andrew Lipow of Lipow Oil Associates.

He said this was a fairly quick reopening of ports after a major hurricane.

“If we think about the hurricane making landfall on Wednesday night and being here 48 hours later to complete all of these recovery efforts and get the gasoline to consumers, that’s pretty good,” Lipow said.

“I wish they would just take the time and be patient. Everybody’s going to get gas, look out for each other,” Jones said.

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