Wanaka's fuel woes continued yesterday, with many motorists "panic buying" petrol before the supply was nearly exhausted for a second time.
Wanaka's Caltex and BP service stations had run out of 91 and 95 octane petrol over the past few days after a storm prevented delivery trucks from getting to Central Otago.
Despite delivery trucks arriving in Wanaka on Tuesday to replenish supplies, droves of worried motorists were stocking up on petrol yesterday to avoid getting caught with empty tanks.
Caltex Wanaka ran out of 91 octane again about 11am yesterday, and 95 octane about 2.30pm.
BP's 95 octane tank was empty by 3.30pm, but its 91 octane supply kept running after a mid-afternoon delivery.
Supplies were expected to be fully replenished by about 9pm last night.
"People are just going mad, absolutely mad," Wanaka BP 2go manager Tony Myers said. "And of course it's just putting more of a strain on everyone."
He said text messages had been circulating Wanaka like wildfire urging people to fill up their cars quickly and motorists coming from the skifields had been phoning to check on supplies.
Caltex Wanaka owner Matt Davison said, while his customers were generally "taking it on the chin" when made aware of the shortages, many were filling up their vehicles before they needed to, just in case.
"We're basically all running two days behind schedule now and it's hard to catch up at this time of year. But I'm confident within the next couple days or so she'll be back to normal."
Chevron's Dunedin fuel terminal could not operate on Tuesday morning after equipment and surrounding roads were affected by ice.
