Having been through the Florida multiple hurricane nightmare a few years back I can say with some authority WHAT NIMROD CAME UP WITH THAT POLICY??? Agreed, it makes little sense to let a contract for ice with a company in Maine for Florida or Louisiana (which I believe they did) but surely they can get ice within the region.
Sarah, please put FEMA on your list.
Actually, it was a nimrod who came up with the policy of distributing ice. There's no valid reason for it. Oh, sure, there's been a lot of people who go on about medicines needing refrigeration, as well as baby formula, etc. Well, no, you don't need to make a big batch of formula that needs to be kept on ice, powdered and canned milk are fine for emergency situations, and for those very few who need refrigeration for their medicines, small distributions of ice can be made through medical centers.
But no, people don't need ice. You give someone ice today, they'll be in line for it tomorrow. Emergency distributions should be emergency distributions - water for a family for 3 days, enough food to feed them for three days. Local companies can produce ice not long after the disaster is over with, and commercial enterprises can distribute it far more efficiently.
If the local water supply is compromised so much that they're unable to make ice locally, then those FEMA trucks are better used bringing in more clean water than bringing in bags of ice. This, actually, is pretty basic emergency planning. FEMA is supposed to be there to make sure the community can survive through the disaster, not provide comfort.