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Trucks Loaded With Ice, Water, Food Wait in Maryland Parking Lot

Posted on: Monday, 19 September 2005, 18:00 CDT

Sep. 17--WASHINGTON -- Dozens of tractor trailers loaded with ice, water and food for hurricane relief -- many of which left the devastated Gulf Coast more than a week ago at the direction of federal officials -- are parked in a roadside lot near the mountains of northwestern Maryland.

Initially sent to aid victims of Hurricane Katrina, the trucks were redirected hundreds of miles to South Carolina and finally to a Federal Emergency Management Agency staging area in Cumberland, Md., where they awaited Hurricane Ophelia.

Ophelia came and went, doing little damage. And the truckers waited, all paid handsomely: $600 a day, plus mileage, according to one of them.

Those familiar with the situation said it was emblematic of FEMA's stumbling response to Katrina's aftermath, compounded by the agency's fear that another hurricane could sock the mid-Atlantic coast.

"It's totally ridiculous," fumed the trucker, who didn't want to be named because he didn't want to upset his boss. "They've (FEMA) got more money in one load of ice than they should have in four. It's gross negligence."

FEMA spokeswoman Deborah Wing said 100 trucks were redirected from Katrina relief efforts and pre-positioned to help with any needs in Virginia, Delaware and Maryland resulting from Ophelia.

But Ophelia faded without a knockout punch to the mid-Atlantic region. Meantime, many in the Gulf Coast remain without running or potable water, and without paychecks with which to buy food. As of Friday afternoon, 70 to 100 trucks remained in Cumberland.

The trucker who asked not to be identified called it "a total, total fiasco. ... People that need the stuff ain't getting it."

A Maryland congressman, Republican Roscoe Bartlett, finally had to push FEMA to do something with the trailers to help hurricane victims, said Lisa Wright, Bartlett's spokeswoman.

"He got involved because a trucker came into his office and said, 'I'm here to help. Can you help me help?'" Wright said.

But rather than going to the Gulf Coast, the trailers will be unloaded and the truckers allowed to leave, Wing said.

Asked why the ice, water and food weren't being shipped to the Gulf Coast, Wing said: "I know needs are being accommodated. I can't comment on the whole plan."

One former FEMA official said keeping the trucks in Maryland wasn't in itself a bad idea, so long as the needs on the Gulf Coast were being met.

"They want to keep them out of harm's way but still be close enough to get to people who need help if it hits," said George Haddow, a former FEMA deputy chief of staff.

But others said the idle assets pointed not only to continued problems with coordinating the response to Hurricane Katrina and the ensuing disaster but also to the need to reconsider how disaster management was run in this country.

"This is business as usual," said Kathleen Tierney, the director of the Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado. "This nation needs an independent commission that can take an objective look at what has happened in this disaster."

Stearns is a Washington correspondent for The Kansas City Star. Seth Borenstein of the Knight Ridder Washington bureau and Scott Canon of the Kansas City Star contributed to this report.

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Copyright (c) 2005, The Kansas City Star, Mo.

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Source: The Kansas City Star (Kansas City, Missouri)

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