WTF?

Sep 21, 2005 09:36

FEMA has contracted for trucks full of ice for the Gulf Coast. They are reportedly coming from all over the country. After arriving in the region and sitting around for a couple of days, they are being diverted to Maine. Portland officials are expecting as many as 200 trucks to unload at a local warehouse, while FEMA figures out where they will be ( Read more... )

katrina, hurricane

Leave a comment

Comments 7

otsana September 21 2005, 16:09:24 UTC
Not all of the ice is being sent to Maine. http://kennebecjournal.mainetoday.com/news/local/1978720.shtml

Reply

discreet_chaos September 21 2005, 17:17:43 UTC
The television report mentions that some of the ice is being stored elsewhere and thanks to your informative link, we now know some of the locations. Of course, Maine is the furthest and if it weren't for the $800 a day of taxpayer's money for sitting idle, you could feel sorry for the fellow who drove from New York to Alabama, only to find himself being sent back to Maine.

Good link. Good article. Thanks.

Reply


jaberwockynmt September 23 2005, 18:22:36 UTC
The ice wasn't contracted by FEMA. A consortium of ice vendors organized the trucks and were going to donate it. The trucks started rolling. FEMA found out about the trucks and then contracted with the ice vendors to pay for the ice so FEMA could get the good press about supplying the ice (even though they didn't know what they would do with all of it). I don't recall exactly which news source I got this from, but you should be able to look it up.

Reply

discreet_chaos September 23 2005, 18:56:02 UTC
The tv link in my original post uses the phrase "were subcontracted by FEMA" and the newspaper article that otsana added doesn't use as precise of wording, but it quote extensively from FEMA info and notes that the Army Corp as in charge of ice. Plus, somebody's paying these truck drivers $800 a day.

Maybe you read another story about donated ice or you've been listening to some right-wing nutjob with a website, but if this particular ice was being donated and there was no need for it, I'm sure the drivers would've taken it back instead of trucking it to Maine and then, deadheading back to their point of origin. With the price of fuel the way it's been, I find it doubtful that anyone would absorb such an outlandish expense, let alone pay the drivers thousands of dollars for sitting around, plus at least one dude quoted in the paper link is an owner-operator, so someone would've had to contract for his services directly.

Reply

jaberwockynmt September 23 2005, 19:19:17 UTC
Here's where I found it (more like a left-wing nutjob website):
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=496

The quote:
The day that Hurricane Katrina reached status 5, Mr. Archie Harris, President of the 100ish year old Rose Ice and Coal Company of Wilmington, North Carolina, enlisted his fellow Icemen across the country, including Canada. He phoned, e-mailed, and faxed for days ( ... )

Reply

discreet_chaos September 23 2005, 19:36:56 UTC
Well, it was some type of nutjob and he doesn't really cite a source, except for some mysterious "Kayla". The newspaper article from otsana says; "In the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, residents of the region needed ice, and emergency officials started ordering it from near and far. The government delivered more than 180 million pounds of ice to the area, FEMA spokeswoman Kathy Cable said." This says in an attributable quote that "emergency officials" ordered the ice.

And in a press statement, the Army Corp says; "For Katrina, the Corps has followed its normal procedures, pre-positioning ice and water teams at staging areas prior to the storm. Following the storm, at FEMA’s direction, we ordered very large quantities of these commodities (211 million pounds of ice, and 100 million liters of water) to meet the anticipated need." (Along with some other CYA data about their response or the lack, thereof ( ... )

Reply


mini truck wheels 340 anonymous April 2 2011, 22:43:09 UTC
739845

Reply


Leave a comment

Up