The federal government owns hundreds of empty buildings. Why can't they just store it, MRIs etc. Does bottled water go bad?
Bottled water
can go bad, depending on storage conditions. On top of that MRE's (Meals, Ready to Eat or as us Soldiers call them Meals Rejected by Everyone) are expensive and bulky (1 case serves 4 people for 1 day, costs approx 70 bucks) and still have expiration dates. The daily food budget for an area like we're talking about would be in the millions. Further, you still have distribution problems of fuel and vehicles that can get through the devastation.
However, there is a solution sitting about 300 miles from NYC. Ft Drum, I'm sure, has probably warehouses full of MRE's, vehicle trailers that can hold from 400 gallons to 1000 gallons of water, fuel tankers capable of carrying several thousand gallons of diesel fuel each (not helpful to the civilian populace, granted, but all these vehicles run on diesel) and the distribution equipment and personnel capable of delivering it in under 18 hours from the word go. I wonder if FEMA has asked that question yet?