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South Florida Feels Pinch At The Pump, Thanks Harvey

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) - A Labor Day weekend road trip will cost a bit more this year, as gas prices shoot up in response to Hurricane Harvey.

At one Doral gas station, drivers are paying $2.69 for a gallon of regular. It was $2.79 at another station less than a mile away.

"It's expensive," said Oscar Guerra. "More when you have to fill up every two days or three days because of work."

Guerra doesn't just need gas for his van. He has to fill up cans for his job, too.

"All the time I'm on the road, so I have to fill it up very often and that's an issue for me," Guerra explained. "That's a big problem for me."

Joshua Cartas says he usually pays $100 to fill up his truck.

But now?

"It's crazy. It's adding more than $50 more that you have to pay for gas," he said as he filled up his tank.

But, at least we have gas here.

At gas stations in Texas, cars were lined up 30 deep because people were worried it could run out.

Flooded and damaged roads have made it hard to transport gas in Texas and a pipeline that moves gas to much of the south was turned off.

On Thursday, the Energy Department ordered the release of one million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to help ease gas shortages.

Nationally, the average gas price shot up about 17 cents a gallon to $2.52 in the last week, according to AAA.

Seven cents of the increase kicked in over just the past day.

In Florida, the average is $2.50 gallon, which is up 19 cents from a week ago when Harvey first made landfall in Texas.

Jimmy Weeks says it usually takes $95 to fill up his van. He says it will cost him about $120 now.

"It is what it is," Weeks said. "I gotta get around so I'm gonna have to do it anyway. It's ridiculous."

This pain at the pump is not expected to last too long.

Experts say it should start to decrease by mid-September as the refineries come back online.

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