Premium gasoline contaminated by water in Cape Coral after Hurricane Debby

CAPE CORAL, Fla. – On Friday, a spokesperson for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) said a shutdown order has been issued for the premium fuel station at the 7-Eleven in Cape Coral, 12 NE Pine Island Road.

Unfortunately, the order to close the road came after drivers like Travis Wooten filled up their tanks.

“I noticed almost immediately when I started it, she was coughing back a little bit,” Wooten said.

Following Hurricane Debby, FDACS reported that water-contaminated fuel was found at 105 of the nearly 2,500 facilities inspected by agency staff in affected areas.

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CAPE CORAL|Premium gasoline contaminated by water after Hurricane Debby

They said inspectors would work with those facilities to ensure any problems were resolved before they reopened to the public.

Wooten tells me he was lucky to be able to drain the bad gas from his tank before it could cause serious damage to his car.

“Literally the next morning when I woke up to take my daughter to work, the fuel had time to really separate in my tank… As soon as I started it, she started coughing and I knew immediately something was wrong with my car,” Wooten said.

On Friday, Colton Chavez, community correspondent for Fox 4 in Cape Coral, asked the store owner about the contaminated gas, but he declined to comment.

Kerrie Wooten told Colton that she took a sample of the contaminated gas to the gas station and showed it to the owner.

“We immediately drove to the gas station when we realized we had brought them the sample gas to show them. We asked if they would turn off the pumps, but they said they wouldn’t,” Wooten said.

On Friday, signs written in pencil reading “Normal tariff only” were hanging on the pumps at the gas station.

On Friday, FDACS announced that another sampling session was planned for that day at the 7-Eleven in Cape Coral.