I talked to my sister-in-law this morning. Their small town has NO GAS. The Piggly-Wiggly has no power, and that means no milk, eggs, bread, and a lot of other things are available. She lives about 30 minutes south of Jackson. If conditions are the way they are there, then they only get worse the further south you drive. Add to these conditions a whole lot of displaced residents of the Coast and Louisiana, and you have a whole lot of people who are unhappy, hungry, thirsty, etc. Imagine if the government starts talking about all the dead people and missing people. Imagine lots of traffic into the area and NO WAY OUT BECAUSE THERE IS NO GAS. There is no gas. Delivery trucks can get in but not back out. It is a nightmare.
Sister-in-law also was advised not to take a planned trip to Florida because the roads in Mississippi AND ALABAMA are unsafe. Forget the problems with gas. The roads are unsafe because thugs are shooting people in their cars. This is according to my sister-in-law's sister's brother-in-laws, who are in the National Guard and working on the Coast. (I had to put the familial relations in that sentence. It's just so Mississippi.) Things are much worse than the media is reporting or maybe even knows.
The gas shortages here in Jackson, MS (for folks not familar w/ the area--that's a 3hr. drive north of Biloxi) are severe. My place of business was closed on Friday due to the shortages. If you go out driving, you will see abandoned cars lining the roadways.
However, it is possible to get gas if you can find a station that has gas and you're willing to wait in line for 4+ hours.
I'm choosing not to drive anywhere except to our Church (two blocks away) until at least Tuesday.