Hurricane season '08

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

Thank you, FEMA. I would have thought that ice for those who have been without power for 4 days would be a necessity. But no, FEMA has informed me that it is a comfort item. I am sure that is very "comforting" to all those who didn't get ice. Oh. And FEMA is responsible for commodities, but ice is not included. No, the area WITHOUT ELECTRICITY is responsible for supplying the ice. Your tax money at work. . . .

I understand that you are frustrated and I wish you every comfort in the world, but it's strange as hell to see ice as a federal responsibility.
ETA: not so much you personally, but that our expectations have come to this.

[CrackerBarrel]

Originally Posted by UGAalum94

I understand that you are frustrated and I wish you every comfort in the world, but it's strange as hell to see ice as a federal responsibility.

Or really a necessity. I agree that I would like to have ice too if I had no power, but in the grand scheme of things I would rather FEMA concentrate on things you can't do without.

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by CrackerBarrel

Or really a necessity. I agree that I would like to have ice too if I had no power, but in the grand scheme of things I would rather FEMA concentrate on things you can't do without.

It also seems a little weird that people locally aren't running gas powered generators to produce ice in big ice makers (like the kinds in commercial kitchens) or that sites with this capacity, with back up generators, aren't doing more to make ice available.

[SWTXBelle]

Originally Posted by UGAalum94

I understand that you are frustrated and I wish you every comfort in the world, but it's strange as hell to see ice as a federal responsibility.
ETA: not so much you personally, but that our expectations have come to this.

Here's why I'm upset - we don't have ice because we don't have electricity. It's kinda necessary to make ice in Texas. FEMA is responsible for bringing commodities in - given that some need ice for medication, and everyone needs ice to keep food from spoiling, it is just odd that FEMA would accept responsibility for food, water, but not ice. Heck, I'd be happy if they would just get ice to those who need it for their medications. We are being alerted to a health crisis - spoiling food.
Luckily, local stores are stepping up and helping out. I am personally fortunate and have power. Many, many more are not. The moral of the story is - when the chips are down, don't count on FEMA.

Given FEMAs past performance, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Watching FEMA reps blaming the local government was like deja vu all over again. Maybe it wouldn't bother me if they were doing a better job of getting food and water (which I would consider necessary) to those who need it.I'm watching the good people of Surfside, who have yet to see anyone from FEMA. The Salvation Army got there, though.

A County Judge got involved when a bottleneck developed with distribution this morning - thank God. But there is a shortage of gas, and a problem that is coming to light now is those who cannot get gas cannot get to the PODs to get supplies. I don't know the answer to that one.

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

Here's why I'm upset - we don't have ice because we don't have electricity. It's kinda necessary to make ice in Texas. FEMA is responsible for bringing commodities in - given that some need ice for medication, and everyone needs ice to keep food from spoiling, it is just odd that FEMA would accept responsibility for food, water, but not ice. Heck, I'd be happy if they would just get ice to those who need it for their medications. We are being alerted to a health crisis - spoiling food.
Luckily, local stores are stepping up and helping out. I am personally fortunate and have power. Many, many more are not. The moral of the story is - when the chips are down, don't count on FEMA.

Given FEMAs past performance, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Watching FEMA reps blaming the local government was like deja vu all over again. Maybe it wouldn't bother me if they were doing a better job of getting food and water (which I would consider necessary) to those who need it.I'm watching the good people of Surfside, who have yet to see anyone from FEMA. The Salvation Army got there, though.

A County Judge got involved when a bottleneck developed with distribution this morning - thank God. But there is a shortage of gas, and a problem that is coming to light now is those who cannot get gas cannot get to the PODs to get supplies. I don't know the answer to that one.

Do you think it would be reasonable for FEMA to supply ice?

Bases on your experience, does it seem like something they could do, like do they have enough trucks coming into the area that they could bring in enough refrigerated ice trucks to be able to handle the demand? Why do you suppose they don't take the responsibility? I'm being completely sincere, not being snarky at all.

It does seem to me that it makes sense for any local business with the ability to provide ice to do what they can.
And it seems like local hospitals, that I think all have back up generators, could help with ice for people who needed it for meds. But someone would need to communicate all this to people before the power went out and might even need a way to deliver it to some of the people who needed it and couldn't travel.

I suspect that local and state officials have no idea about what FEMA will or won't do until it's too late to come up with a good local plan and most members of the public don't either.

My relatives along the gulf coast all have back up generators, some wired into the house completely, but they've got the money to and the frequency of storms to make it seem like a good investment.

It's hard to figure out what might be comparable where I am, but I don't even have canned goods to last the amount of time that you've been carrying on after Ike.