FEMA Follies
One of the aid items the Federal Emergency Management Agency shipped to Louisiana in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina was 169.4 million pounds of ice. It was so much that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ordered more than 200 truckloads diverted to a storage facility — in Portland, Maine, a 1,600-mile drive away. That’s “so at a moment’s notice we can turn that switch on and say we need the ice and it can come out of those storage facilities instead of waiting,” says a Corps spokeswoman. “We have Hurricane Rita that’s getting ready to barrel through the Gulf. Obviously, we’re going to need ice and water when it does.” (Portland Press Herald) ...And then the victims can wait while it’s driven back from Maine.
Available in This is True: Book Collection Vol. 12