TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Fuel tankers have finally begun leaving Port Tampa Bay to supply gas stations in areas hit hard by Hurricane Milton.

Friday, Mayor Jane Castor said the fuel terminals at Port Tampa Bay were surrounded by rainwater, which hampered the supply chain.

“That is the issue with gasoline right now,” Castor said. “We have plenty out at the port. It’s getting from the port to the gas stations because of the flooding around those storage tanks at the port.”

Lisa Wolf-Chason, director of communications for Port Tampa Bay, said the seven terminals, which operate privately, have power and are no longer surrounded by floodwater. She expected that half of the terminals would be operational by Friday night.

“They will get the fuel supply that’s stored here at the port out in the community that desperately needs it,” she said.

As of 6 p.m. Friday, 25 tankers have left Port Tampa Bay.

Wolf-Chason said Port Tampa Bay’s shipping channels will reopen Saturday, with the first ships being fuel vessels.

Castor said the first priority will be to get fuel to areas most impacted by Hurricane Milton.

“Please, if you don’t have to go anywhere, don’t,” the mayor said, urging citizens to conserve as much fuel as possible.

Castor also asked residents to be patient once the deliveries go out.

At 11:25 a.m. Friday, TECO reported 533,439 outages on its outage map. Over 6,000 utility workers have been brought in from across the country to help restore power as fast as possible.

TECO spokesperson Mary Lou Carn said the hurricane caused over 600,000 power outages, which is about 70% of TECO’s customer base.

“This is largely due to flooding of our electrical infrastructure, a huge number of fallen trees knocking down overhead power lines and poles,” Carn said. “Some of the more severe impacts have been our transmission lines mostly due to debris, but the good news is those fixes should be quick and will significantly restore power to many people as these lines enable the delivery of power to our substations and distribution networks.”

She said TECO will release a timeline on Friday night of how long the restoration will take.

Castor said the outages have cause 65% of Tampa’s traffic lights to go down, which can pose a hazard if people are not careful.

When traffic lights are down, drivers are required to use the intersections as four-way stops. According to Director of Mobility Vik Bhide, one deadly crash has already claimed someone’s life at a downed traffic light.

“We really do not want this to repeat,” Bhide said.

The director also said the city and county pumping stations are up and running to remove floodwater as fast as possible. The city’s station is pumping at capacity at 30,000 gallons a minute.