By Kevin Lavery, KWMU
St. Louis, MO – The aftermath of the storm is putting a crunch on the region's ice manufacturing companies.
Glacier Ice Company owner Howard Watkins, who operates two plants in the Metro East, says the storm forced him and other manufacturers to sell up to four times their normal daily production.
But Watkins says they're losing money because they've had to call in ice supplies from as many as a dozen states. "Somewhere between 75 and 100 tractor-trailer loads of ice were imported from out of state to try to satisfy demand. We could not," Watkins says.
"People were following trucks."
Watkins says most Metro East retailers are now well stocked with ice, adding delivery issues have prompted them to supply larger retailers at the expense of smaller ones.
Tom Howat, with the Missouri Valley Ice Manufacturers Association, is asking people not to hoard ice.
"Don't buy 20 bags when you need two or three, because when those two or three bags are gone, the rest of the 20 are going to be melted, too," Howat said. "Every day as more electricity is turned on out there, more outlets are getting their power back and filling up their ice merchandisers."
Area retailers say four-day supplies of ice have been selling out in as little as 20 minutes.