TAMPA, Fla. – In the aftermath of Hurricane Milton, Tampa Bay residents are waiting in long lines at gas stations with hundreds of shut-off pumps. It causes unmanageable chaos among the customers.

“They were fighting, like fistfights,” said Tootie Jones, a security guard at a local Wawa. “One girl hit another girl with her car. They were really fighting over gas. We couldn’t get them sorted out. We had to call the police because they were really crazy.”

The Pasco Sheriff’s Office is asking people for patience and respect after witnessing fights at the gas pumps.

READ: Historic flooding in Pasco County prompts voluntary evacuation order

“When we get these calls about people arguing at gas stations, we stay there, which just brings more resources,” said Pasco Sheriff Chris Nocco. “But the problem is that we know that if we leave, the problem will just continue and return. So unfortunately for us sometimes it’s babysitting. And if that’s what we have to do to maintain But unfortunately, everyone understand that we have very, very limited resources.”

He said they received 177 calls for fights at gas stations Friday afternoon.

“You see lines that are about half a mile long. And then you see people getting very, very angry about whose spot line or people cutting off. So that’s one of the things we tell people, you know, calm down,” Nocco said .

But there is good news that the weekend heralds some relief as Port Tampa Bay gets power back on and reopens.

MORE: Rescue operations in Pasco County as floodwaters rose after Hurricane Milton

“Right now, there are more than ten oil tankers, each carrying more than 10 million gallons of refined products, en route to Florida. In fact, we already have one tanker waiting outside the Port of Tampa, ready to enter the terminal come,” says Andrew Lipow of Lipow Oil Associates.

He said this was a fairly quick reopening of the ports after a major hurricane.

“If we think about the hurricane making landfall on Wednesday night and it’s now 48 hours later, to complete all these recovery efforts and get gasoline to consumers, that’s pretty good,” Lipow said.

“I wish they would just take the time to be patient. Everybody get fuel, be considerate of each other,” Jones said.

WATCH FOX 13 NEWS:

STAY CONNECTED WITH FOX 13 TAMPA: