It might be a miracle. But it also might be bad for your car.
That’s what one TikToker captured in the wake of Hurricane Milton. Hurricane Milton left widespread gas shortages across Florida after making landfall near Sarasota last week and sweeping across the state.
Though one pump was clearly marked “no gas” in a video posted by creator Ythamarie (@ythamarie), the creator was managing to pump some into their car nonetheless. That video, posted Sunday, earned more than 1.6 million views as of Tuesday morning. It has some viewers probably wondering if the customer was actually putting watered-down gas in the vehicle.
The video, with a Milton hashtag, is merely captioned, “Bruh.” It shows a six-second clip of the creator at a Circle K, pumping gas into a car even though the pump has yellow and black signage wrapped around it, saying, “Sorry out of gas.”
@ythamarie Bruh. #florida #gas #hurricane #milton #fyp ♬ original sound – MrkeepFit
What’s happening in Florida?
According to an ABC News story from Thursday, the hurricane resulted in gas shortages across the state, which were already beginning before the storm hit as some prepared for the worst.
“Nearly a quarter of the roughly 7,900 gas stations in the state have run dry, petroleum data firm GasBuddy reported Thursday,” the story noted. “Oil Price Information Service, or OPIS, another company that tracks the sector, found as much as half of the state’s gas stations lack fuel.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) responded in part, according to WUSF’s coverage from Saturday, by opening up three fuel distribution centers in the Tampa Bay metro area. Those centers offered 10 gallons of gas per citizen willing to brave long lines. WUSF also shared plans for additional distribution sites to open up in the coming days.
Theories on what was in that pump
Commenters weighed in on the mystery.
“What if you’re putting water in your tank,” one wondered.
“I will find out!” the creator replied.
Another posited, “They leave about 900 gallons for emergency people.”
Someone else echoed, “I work at a gas station close pumps off once it gets to 1,000 gallons left cause the tanks can’t go empty; they’ll start to float up.”
That person added, “It’s good gas still.”
Yet another warned, “Hey! so they actually don’t have safe levels of gas and most times it’s because there’s water in the tanks, and that’s what your putting in your car. hope this helps!”
The creator wasn’t alone in the attempt. Someone else shared, “I tried it – it stopped at $0.19.”
The creator posted a follow-up video, claiming that her car was running fine.
The Daily Dot has reached out to the creator via TikTok comment and text message (to a number provided in their bio) to Circle K via online contact form.
Internet culture is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter here. You’ll get the best (and worst) of the internet straight into your inbox.
