Iowa may not get much rain from Hurricane Isaac, but we’re already feeling its impact here at the gas pump.
Rose White, spokeswoman for AAA-Iowa, says gasoline prices have already jumped a dime a gallon in some Iowa cities since Sunday. White says there’s concern through the Gulf of Mexico as Isaac became a level-one hurricane this afternoon.
Hundreds of oil platforms have already shut down along with many major refineries and shipping operations, White says, though she says they usually resume production quickly after the storm passes.
The current price for a gallon of self-service unleaded in Iowa is $3.69, about six cents below the national average.
With the busy travel holiday of the Labor Day weekend just ahead, White says the hurricane is arriving just in time to send prices bounding.
Wholesale gas prices are also rising but she says the federal government will release crude supplies from its reserves, if necessary. White says there’s no need for Iowans to rush out to the gas station to top off their tanks.
White says the gas price increase will be temporary and there is no shortage of gas. She says prices should come back down after the holiday weekend as that’ll mark the end of the summer travel season.
The remains of a Katrina-damaged house in New Orleans — still standing in 2010, then, five years after the storm.
Hurricane Isaac is expected to arrive late tonight or early tomorrow along the Gulf Coast. Hurricane Katrina hit that region and New Orleans seven years ago, making landfall August 29th of 2005, causing billions of dollars damage and claiming 1,800 lives.