Miami ? Wanted: A charity with lots of freezer space. Or a town in need of flooding.

Neither scenario is likely to rescue the Florida State Emergency Response Team from the peculiar dilemma imposed by last year’s dearth of hurricanes.

The agency has almost 9 million pounds of ice cubes worth $1.8 million – bagged, bundled and costing the state $90,000 a month in storage fees. It was bought and positioned in Jacksonville and Bartow warehouses for distribution during electricity outages that never happened.

Water, like most consumables, eventually runs the risk of spoilage, and Florida’s ice overstock is due for disposal before the June start of the 2007 hurricane season. That approaching use-by date prompted the appeal last week from emergency planners for any nonprofit group eligible for government donations to take the ice.