Gasoline ran out this morning at the Murphy USA station at the Walmart Supercenter on Highway 153 in Hixson.
"Due to supply issues, we are currently out of product," read the signs on pumps - which still had diesel fuel for sale.
Tropical storm Harvey knocked 25 percent of U.S. oil refineries offline and reduced the flow in the Colonial Pipeline, which provides about 40 percent of the South's gasoline and has a spur that runs through Chattanooga.
However, drivers shouldn't panic, cautioned Emily LeRoy, executive director of the Tennessee Fuel and Convenience Store Association.
"Everybody should go about their normal business," LeRoy said. "There's still plenty of stations open with fuel."
"There may be some rolling spot outages. They're temporary," she said.
The smaller Plantation Pipeline, which also has a spur that runs through Chattanooga, is still running at full tilt, she said. And tanker trucks are searching out gasoline supplies at other refineries, including in Kentucky and Indiana, she said.
"There's a refinery in Memphis. Some [gas station supply trucks] may be going to Memphis," LeRoy said.
Read more in tomorrow's Times Free Press.