Remember this?
Yet again, ice may not be reaching those in need. I'm going to be writing about a family member's experiences, and I want to keep him as anonymous as possible. He relies on the money he makes to pay for his family's health insurance.
My family received a phone call today and I need to share. I have a male family member who drives a tractor trailer in his semi-retirement. The company he works for has been contracted by FEMA, and he was sent to deliver ice in Louisiana. My family member has been sleeping in a truck full of ice for 8 days in Louisiana, near the Texas/Louisiana border. The area was badly flooded, but does not appear to have the utter destruction as seen along the Texas coast following Hurricane Ike.
My family member's company was paid around $4000 to deliver a load of ice. FEMA is paying the company another $1000 per day for the truck to sit idle. My family member has a place to sleep, since the truck is equipped with a sleeper. The local police are nice enough to allow him to come into their station to use the bathroom. He sponge bathes--showers are hard to come by. There's not much open, and he's buying some canned goods and junk food at a Kmart to eat.
He mentioned about 100 other semi-trucks in that general location sitting idle with trailers full of ice. No provision has been made for any of the truck drivers. They're on their own.
Someone in authority finally told him to open the truck--after 8 days. The person in authority only allowed locals to take two bags each. There are thousands of bags of ice in the trailer. Only 25% was taken. On day 9 he was instructed to deliver the rest to either an Air National Guard/National Guard base (temporary or permanent, I don't know). My family member will sit on the Louisiana/Texas border until FEMA decides whether he should go get more.
If this was meant to be life sustaining support, the people of Louisiana are in big trouble.