Risk of Natural disasters vs Military facilities

You mean the new HQ?
yep

According to
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That facility is on a hill the elevation spared it any damage
OK

by the way I can't access many local newspapers in the US, it says

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LOL of course I don't blame you TE
 

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The Last Jedi
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things are tough all over. Here's the article Jura;

Even the U.S. Air Force couldn’t stop the Mighty Missouri River from flooding Offutt Air Force Base.

Between Saturday night and early Sunday, the 55th Wing called off a 30-hour, round-the-clock
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because the floodwaters were rising too fast.

“It was a lost cause. We gave up,” said Tech. Sgt. Rachelle Blake, a 55th Wing spokeswoman.

By Sunday morning, one-third of the base was underwater, she said. Thirty buildings, including the 55th Wing headquarters and the two major aircraft maintenance facilities, had been flooded with up to 8 feet of water, and 30 more structures damaged. About 3,000 feet of the base’s 11,700-foot runway was submerged. No one, though, had been injured.

“It’s devastating to the 55th Wing, devastating to the installation and the facilities,” said U.S. Rep Don Bacon, R-Neb., a retired Air Force officer who commanded the 55th Wing in 2011 and 2012. “They just took a punch to the gut. But the 55th Wing will get back on its feet.”

While Sunday yielded small indicators of improvement in some pockets of flooding along the Platte and Elkhorn Rivers, the devastation at Offutt was a signal of tougher times along the Missouri. Engineers and emergency personnel fixed their eyes on Offutt, Bellevue and points south as water levels rose along the river. A levee near Hamburg, Iowa, was topped as a World-Herald journalist looked on.

At Offutt, the 55th Wing managed to fly out nine of the 33 reconnaissance jets based there Saturday evening, according to 55th Wing Commander Col. Michael Manion’s official Facebook post. Some were flown to the Lincoln Airport, where the Nebraska Air National Guard has a base.

Five planes were still parked on the northwest taxiway and the apron Sunday morning. Blake said it’s not clear yet when or whether they’ll be moved. No planes have been damaged in the floods.

At least 1,600 workers at the base have been relocated to other buildings. For now, the 55th Wing is operating out of the Dougherty Conference Center, near the Patriot Club, the former officers’ club, Blake said. Others will be working out of the cavernous Building D, the former Martin Bomber Plant, built just before World War II.

The headquarters of U.S. Strategic Command, which is on a hill, had not suffered any flooding. Many of its senior leaders are participating in a worldwide military exercise called Global Lightning, which began Wednesday, though the command has reduced its force to “minimum manning” levels. StratCom’s new $1.3 billion headquarters also had suffered no damage.

The base’s commissary, shopping exchange and chapel and all base housing are out of the flood zone, and no on-base residents have been evacuated, Blake said.

“Half the base is in crisis mode, and half the base everything is normal,” she said.

Sandbagging and other defensive efforts began at noon Friday, said Lt. Col. Vance Goodfellow, deputy commander of the 55th Wing’s Mission Support Group.

“It was a 24/7 effort,” he said.

He said floodwaters first breached the base’s eastern fence, about a mile from the river, at 9 a.m. Saturday. By late afternoon, water was pouring out of storm and sewage drains and had reached critical buildings south of the single runway, a half-mile from the eastern boundary.

“The water came in and overtook us,” Goodfellow said.
 

bd popeye

The Last Jedi
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Part II about Offutt AFB;

The defensive effort involved teams of 100 airmen and civilian volunteers working four-hour shifts to fill and stack sandbags. They put up 460 “HESCO” flood barriers and filled sandbags by the tens of thousands. The Cities of Bellevue and La Vista donated 4,500 tons of sand.

But once the fence line was breached and water began to flood in, Goodfellow said, work was refocused on protecting certain critical buildings.

A specialized device called an Aqua Dam, 4 feet high, was flown in from Louisiana to surround a building that contained expensive flight simulators. But the water rose too quickly to deploy it.

Master Sgt. Eric Streeter, a Nebraska Air National Guard member with the Offutt-based 170th Group, said he spent seven hours Saturday making sandbags. He brought his son the next morning to see the floodwaters.

“We got overwhelmed with water, so we backed off to the StratCom parking lot,” Streeter said.

His friend, Master Sgt. Eric Pyatt, was one of the last to leave the massive Bennie Davis facility, the maintenance headquarters for the Offutt fleet. He and others picked up as many items as they could and put them on shelves or tables.

“There was nothing else we could do to change what was happening,” he said. He helped move cars left in the parking lot, some by airmen who are deployed. Other vehicles had to be towed away.

Bacon also took part in the sandbagging effort and was crushed to learn that it failed.

“I was in tears this morning to hear it,” said Bacon, who first worked at the base in the 1980s. “It’s just heartbreaking.”

No damage estimate is yet available. Goodfellow said it may be days before engineers can get into some of the flooded buildings. He’s hopeful that the water has crested and will recede in a few days.

“We’re resilient here,” he said. “We’ll recover from this.”

Offutt’s single runway, coincidentally, was closed over the weekend for survey work connected to an upcoming renovation project. The surveyors continued their work Sunday, even with more than a quarter of the runway underwater.


Offutt officials could not predict when normal flight operations would resume. Offutt is the training base for the 55th Wing’s 29 reconnaissance jets, and four E-4B Nightwatch airborne command-and-control aircraft.

“If we’re at a somewhat operational level in 30 days, that’ll be a win,” said Gary Kaufman, Offutt’s airfield manager.

The base clearly has suffered far greater damage than was inflicted by an EF-1 tornado that hit the base in June 2017. That one caused about $20 million in damage, about half to airplanes parked on the apron, and half to buildings.

The damage is also far more widespread than what the base suffered during massive flooding along the Missouri River in 2011.

Those floods prompted the Federal Emergency Management Agency to order 19 miles of levees along the Missouri to be raised by 2 feet in order to protect Offutt, a project expected to cost about $30 million. The Papio-Missouri River Natural Resources District had secured permits to start the construction soon.

Bacon said it took a massive effort, overcoming opposition from some who questioned whether the higher levees really were needed. Now that question appears settled.

“Clearly we could’ve used two more feet,” Bacon said.

The flood has knocked out facilities at a time when Offutt’s largest commands were on the verge of moving into new buildings, anyway. StratCom’s new headquarters is expected to be ready for full occupancy by the end of 2019.

Some 55th Wing personnel were scheduled to move in December to temporary quarters at the Lincoln Airport for one year. Those quarters, in a former blimp hangar, haven’t yet been renovated into office space.

After that, the 55th Wing is slated to move into the 1957-vintage Curtis LeMay Building being vacated by StratCom, though that building will require a major renovation first.

It’s not yet clear how the flooding will affect the runway project, or the Wing’s longer-term future at the base.

“It’s too early. Right now we’re trying to mitigate an emergency,” Bacon said. “They’re just trying to save what they can, and then they’ll plan.”

But he said it’s critical for the whole community to do whatever is necessary to help the 55th Wing in its time of need.

“They’re part of our Omaha DNA. We want to preserve them as part of our community,” he said. “We want to work our butts off to make sure this stays their home.”
 
Mar 28, 2019
from what I figured, a levee could've been built, but wasn't, so questions are:
  1. how much was it for an unbuilt levee?
  2. how much is it to repair the base?
  3. will the Pentagon build a levee "eventually"?
regarding #2,
Cost of Offutt Flood Recovery Tops $650 Million
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Twenty facilities at Offutt AFB, Neb., can’t be saved in the aftermath of a blizzard whose floodwaters covered one-third of the base in March, while another 10 can still be repaired, according to an Air Force spokesman.

After assessing the state of the base on April 30, officials found key facilities like the 55th Wing, 55th Operations Group, and 595th Command and Control Group headquarters, as well as facilities that support nuclear command, control, and communications aircraft, simulators, and more will need to be torn down and rebuilt, Ryan Hansen said in a May 9 email. Those buildings and other assets that can be salvaged include the E-4B Nightwatch hangar, intel facilities, and maintenance areas.

All told, the Air Force currently needs $420 million for operations, maintenance, and construction—split between $120 million for operation and maintenance and facilities sustainment and $300 million for military construction—plus another $234 million for training devices. The service’s cost estimate is still evolving.

“We have transitioned the [Recovery Operations Center] into what we’re calling the NexGen Program Management Office,” Hansen said. “It is comprised of folks that are organizing subject matter experts into a working group who’ll enable the wing to prioritize requirements [current and future operations, and new missions, etc.] moving forward. This team will synergize our efforts to ensure the redevelopment of Offutt is done as efficiently as possible.”

The office mirrors similar efforts underway at Tyndall AFB, Fla., which is battling its own mold, water damage, and widespread destruction after Hurricane Michael.

Nearly 140 structures, including 44 occupied buildings, were flooded, Hansen said May 10. Affected personnel moved elsewhere on base and into facilities that were scheduled to be torn down. Some are slowly starting to move back into the buildings that are salvageable.

Facilities that must be rebuilt include the:
  • 55th Wing headquarters
  • 55th Operations Group headquarters
  • 595th Command and Control Group headquarters
  • Satellite communications/MILSTAR Complex
  • Aircrew alert campus for E-4B and E-6 aircraft
  • 55th Intelligence Support Squadron facilities
  • 343rd Reconnaissance Squadron facilities
  • 625th Strategic Operations Squadron’s simulator facility
  • 55th Security Forces Squadron’s combat arms training facility
  • Veterinary clinic
  • Petroleum operations facility
  • Precision measurement laboratory
  • Defense courier station
  • Various electrical power substation utilities
  • Tactical air navigation station
  • Instrument landing system glide slope
  • Recreation facilities
  • Drug demand reduction facility
  • Supply warehouses and equipment depots
  • Hazardous waste storage facility
Facilities that can be repaired include the:
  • Bennie L. Davis Maintenance Facility
  • E-6 ground equipment facility
  • E-4B hangar
  • 97th Intelligence Squadron facilities
  • Recycling center
  • Boundary fence
  • Hydrant fueling facilities and utilities
  • Munitions storage
  • Vehicle fueling station
  • Softball pavilion and storage
John Henderson, the Air Force’s assistant secretary for installations, environment, and energy, recently told the Omaha World-Herald about 60 structures will be torn down. Hansen said the 20 facilities listed as of the April 30 assessment encompass those 60 structures.
 
Oct 14, 2018
as I write the USAF Generals are working on how to 'make Tyndall great again', I guess, so let's wait for the next hurricane

...
... while
F-35s Coming to Tyndall Air Force Base
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The Trump administration is confirming that a
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base in the Florida Panhandle that was devastated by Hurricane Michael will be rebuilt so it can house
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.

Vice President Mike Pence tweeted Tuesday that squadrons of F-35 fighter jets will be based at
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outside Panama City beginning in 2023.

The Air Force had previously conducted an evaluation showing Tyndall can accommodate three F-35 squadrons.

With 11,000 military and civilian workers, the base suffered catastrophic damage from the Category 5 storm last October. The estimated cost to rebuild the base is $4.7 billion.

Most of the
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fighter jets that were housed at Tyndall before the hurricane were moved to other bases.
 
now
AFIMSC Refines Disaster Response Plans for Future Storms
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The Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center, a key part of the service's disaster response effort following hurricanes and other crises, is making tweaks to help USAF bases move forward faster.

Created in 2015, the center's job includes connecting those affected by crises to others within the service that can address everything from family assistance to immediate cleanup to long-term construction. It launched the Tyndall AFB, Fla., Program Management Office in the aftermath of last year's Hurricane Michael to oversee the rebuild effort, and has grown closer to the major organizations that make up the Air Force since its inception.

“When [Hurricane] Dorian came this time, we have a crisis action team that stands up at IMSC, and we have [detachment] commanders … in each of the 10 [major commands],” AFIMSC Commander Maj. Gen. Tom Wilcox told Air Force Magazine on Sept. 17. “Those Det. commanders are now part of those MAJCOM crisis action teams, and they sit in there 100 percent to have that interface and be able to bring everything back.”

AFIMSC also stays in touch with a Washington, DC-based crisis action team. The center is putting together an initial response team of nine or 10 people who could work with a MAJCOM to evaluate what the organization needs in the aftermath of an emergency or disaster.

“We found after [Hurricane] Michael that we had to put two or three task forces together,” Wilcox said. “If we can lean forward on that, and have that team identified and be ready to go and say, “Hey, you got it for this month, you got it for this month, you got it for this quarter, we can plan around it,’ then all we’ve got to do is call those folks, get them on a plane to go.”

That response team would be key to helping installations and their residents work through the myriad to-do list that accompanies disasters. The team would inspect bases with wing leaders who know the area best, then connect the locals with builders, security forces, contracting, and other services.

“The installation is evacuated and all those folks are watching their families,” Wilcox said. “Then they’ve got to get their families back to the base, or they have to leave their family to drive back to the base. … There’s a lot of stuff with paying airmen, travel vouchers and evacuation vouchers and all that.”

For example, the credit cards airmen use to pay for travel could need their limits raised because they’ll be away from home for longer than expected, among other issues people wouldn’t know to consider. That’s AFIMSC’s job, he said, using response checklists created thanks to Hurricane Michael, the Category 5 storm that pummeled Tyndall nearly one year ago.

The Tyndall PMO has issued $290 million in operations and maintenance restoration contracts in fiscal 2019 and plans to ink another approximately $25 million early in fiscal 2020, according to slides from a
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. Officials said they are battling shifting facilities requirements that complicate and drag out the contracting process, as well as a stretched-thin labor market in the local area, and having to split funding for its multibillion-dollar plan with flooded Offutt AFB, Neb.

AFIMSC is helping rebuild Tyndall to
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and, possibly, the MQ-9 in the 2020s. Its multi-campus plan aims to make the base more flexible for operations and resilient for future storms.

Overall, Wilcox appears satisfied that the center has all it needs to assist other airmen. He noted that AFIMSC can front some money to bases to prepare for big events, like it did for Patrick AFB, Fla., which Hurricane Dorian recently grazed. The center expects to get those funds back from bases later.

“I think we have a lot of the budget flexibility, initially. If it’s a large [event], like Michael, obviously we need congressional help on the supplementals to get after that,” Wilcox said. “It looks like they’re going to do it again next year, and then the stable funding over the next year or so to continue to rebuild that back. So I think we have the capacity there as a service of DOD.”
 
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