FEMA sending trucks of ice to Maine?

[Zebra]

They are going to pick up some lobsters.

Jeeze how hard is that to understand?

[vetbridge]

From: http://cocktails.about.com/od/cocktails/r/margrecipe.htm

This is a basic recipe for a Margarita.

INGREDIENTS:

* 1 1/2 oz. Tequila
* 3/4 oz. Triple Sec (or Cointreau)
* Splash of Sour mix
* Dash of Fresh lime juice

PREPARATION:
Shake with ice & serve in a salt rimmed glass on the rocks or strain to serve up Add more liquid and blend with ice for a frozen variation Garnish with a lime wedge .

Bolding mine.

[Sal_Ammoniac]

But really, we’re all assuming that it is cheaper to just let the ice melt, and then get more when needed. But maybe it’s not. Maybe it’s still cost-effective to send it to be stored in Maine.

For what it’s worth, it’s not unknown for hurricanes to hit Maine (and Massachusetts). Hell, Ophelia sort of hit Cape Cod just last week.

[CalMeacham]

Ophelia may have hit the Cape, but as a tropical storm. Hurricane Bob from 1991 was a tropical storm by the time it hit Maine:

http://www.geocities.com/hurricanene/hurricanebob.htm

Hurricane Gloria in 1985 injured 3 and left a lot of people in the dark:

http://www.pivot.net/~cotterly/gloria.htm

Hurricanes do hit Maine:

http://www.pivot.net/~cotterly/facts.htm

http://www.state.me.us/mema/haz_docs/hurricane.htm
But I really think yiou’d rather have that ice in, say, North Carolina, or Texas

[Left_Hand_of_Dorkness]

@This Year's Model

My understanding is that FEMA has a call out to the nation’s ice sculptors to make toilet seats out of the leftover ice.

I’ve heard that if you go to Maine you’ll freeze your butt off, but I never understood why.

Daniel

[RTFirefly]

Yes, Idaho. Just where they need more ice.

For example, one truck of ice left Oshkosh, Wis., on Sept. 6, and went to Louisiana. Then it was sent by FEMA to Georgia but was rerouted before it arrived to South Carolina, then to Cumberland, Md., where it has been sitting for three days at an added cost to taxpayers so far of $9,000.

Multiplied by hundreds of trucks, this sort of dispatching could mean millions of dollars are being wasted.

“From a trucking aspect, I’m happy. Keep it coming,” said Wessels. “From a taxpayer aspect, it’s sick.”

A FEMA official says, in the rush to respond to Katrina, the agency ordered too much ice. Rather than let it melt, they sent it to other parts of the country to be ready for the next hurricane.

But Wessels says FEMA just ordered more ice and re-routed some of his trucks again — to Idaho.

[ioioio]

Multiplied by hundreds of trucks, this sort of dispatching could mean millions of dollars are being wasted.

That’s some darned expensive ice.
Is it possible that the folks at FEMA don’t know how easy it is to make more ice?

Q2: Is it possible the the folks at FEMA don’t know there’s a gasoline shortage?

Considering that the former director didn’t know people were in need at the Super Dome when 99% of the country had watched the story continuously on TV for days, yes, I guess it’s possible.

[unophobia]

No fridges, no iceboxes working–how else to refigerate?

[unophobia]

I understand Maine, but Idaho? Guess the millionaires there need more rocks for their scotch.

[Biggirl]

@unophobia

No fridges, no iceboxes working–how else to refigerate?

I’m assuming the trucks are refrigerated. If not the ice would have melted long ago.

[scr4]

@laina_f

That’s some darned expensive ice.
Is it possible that the folks at FEMA don’t know how easy it is to make more ice?
Is it possible the the folks at FEMA don’t know there’s a gasoline shortage?

Latent heat of fusion of water is 144 BTU/lb, and another 35 BTU/lb needed to cool it from room temperature. An 18-wheeler can carry about 20 tons of ice, right? So it takes about 7.2 million BTU to make a truckload of ice. If you use a diesel generator to do it you’d need 200 gallons of fuel, assuming 25% combined efficiency of refrigerator and generator. It’s not immediately obvious to me that it’s cheaper to throw it out and make more later.

[SteveG1]

@samclem

Now that I"ve gotten my official duties out of the way, I’d like to say…

WTF???

Don’t they realize how many toilet seats the Defense Department could have bought with the savings if they had only let the ice melt?

One. Gotta factor in excessive requirements, flowdowon of even more requirements to the subcontractors, endless changes (creeping requirements syndrome), unnecessary inspection points every step of the way (by people who don’t know the requirements), award fee payments for progress (whether there is any progress or not), layers and layers of oversight by people who have no training in that area of knowledge (meaning they don’t know shit), the cost of re-baselining (so it appears to be on schedule and under budget on paper), the list goes on forever.

Meh. This sort of thing is nothing new or amazing. :eek:

[Dangerosa]

@scr4

Latent heat of fusion of water is 144 BTU/lb, and another 35 BTU/lb needed to cool it from room temperature. An 18-wheeler can carry about 20 tons of ice, right? So it takes about 7.2 million BTU to make a truckload of ice. If you use a diesel generator to do it you’d need 200 gallons of fuel, assuming 25% combined efficiency of refrigerator and generator. It’s not immediately obvious to me that it’s cheaper to throw it out and make more later.

Good Lord Man, don’t be all reasonable! This is really funny.

Though no matter how you slice it, it doesn’t really make sense to store those trucks far from hurricanes during hurricane season. Maybe Oklahoma - lots of open space, still close enough to get to the likely hurricane locations…

[teela_brown]

A trucking company wanted to give some ice to help out in New Orleans, but the truckload was turned down.

So they donated it to a zoo in Arizona, where it is greatly appreciated.

[Loopydude]

@RTFirefly

Yes, Idaho. Just where they need more ice.

Well, next door, in Montana, they’ve got a big national park with shrinking glaciers. Maybe they could put the ice to good use there.