Posted on 03/20/2019 6:54:48 AM PDT by Enlightened1
It may be one of the most important Air Force installations in the continental United States, but Offutt Air Force Base has proven no match for the full fury of the Missouri River.
As record flooding swept through towns across the Midwest, floodwaters had swallowed at least thirty buildings at Offutt as of Sunday and damaged another 30, the 55th Wing announced, including the headquarters of the 55th Wing, 55th Security Forces Squadron, 97th Intelligence Squadron, and 343rd Reconnaissance Squadron
And while the 55th Wing said that Air Force personnel worked round-the-clock to shore up facilities with 235,000 sandbags and 460 flood barriers "to minimize damage as much as possible," floodwaters were so intense that they eventually abandoned a frantic sandbagging effort.
"It was a lost cause" 55th Wing spokeswoman Tech. Sgt. Rachelle Blake told the Omaha World-Herald. "We gave up."
The full extent of the damage is currently unknown, but it's worth noting that Offutt is home of U.S. Strategic Command, which oversees the Pentagon's nuclear strategic deterrence and global strike capabilities — and opened a brand-new $1.3 billion command and control facility at the air base in January.
Below, dramatic photos capture the flooding at Offutt:
(Excerpt) Read more at taskandpurpose.com ...
Were they not aware of the potential for flooding when they picked the location to build the base?
Whenever we house hunt, one of the first things we check for is that. We won’t buy anything that has any risk of flooding like that.
Higher ground or nothing for us.
Lots of flooded out old atlas silos are for sale— multilevel bunkers. hell of a lot of refurb and super high price for one. for rich survivor wannabees— course one has to be able to get there in the first place— rather much obviated by blast zones in between in the 2 seconds after phase.
Interesting though mentioning these— a lot of them have been built for dorsey, and other techies... in New Zealand.
Hey, don’t be judgmental! The Governor and previous President told them that droughts were permanent and there would never be any rain again. They were believing the scientific consensus.
There are levys between the base and the river. This is the worst flooding since the base was built and the levys were overcome.
Offutt was an Army fort in the 1890s. It has been an Air Force base since the Army Air Service of 1917.
This is a once in a 200 year flood.
Some people shoot from the lip without thinking, and others realize they’re loud-mouthed idiots.
Not having a clue about a subject, they’re still ever ready to pontificate and pass judgment.
But to be fair, I’ve done it here myself...
A place I’ve actually been. Well, we took the ids to SAC in 1993. My in-laws live fairly close. Luckily for them, they haven’t been aversely affected. I hope they saved the B-52 they had where we got to go in the bomb bay.
Man propose, God disposes.
The satellite images side by side are pretty telling and definitely shows the ancient flood plain and the how this filled it to the original banks after breaching. The difference is probably only a few feet but there is a visible bank line and flood plain for sure.
I’m trying to find it, can’t remember for sure where I ran across it this morning. Maybe a secondary link from something here. I will keep looking so I can share it here. Really is worth a look.
They did. The alert bird moved immediately (probably to Wright-Pat or Andrews) and one of the back-up jets deployed last weekend as well. A third E-4B has departed as well.
If you look at the first photo in this threat, you can see the last remaining National Airborne Operations Center (NAOC) bird sitting on a ramp off the “dry” end of the runway. I believe there are a total of four E-4Bs (doomsday birds); three are now off-station and the one on the ramp is not threatened by the flood.
Thankfully, none of the E-4s or the RC-135 intel collection jets at Offut were in the maintenance complex when it was flooded. As of last weekend, nine of the 55th Wing’s aircraft had evacuated (that’s the unit that operates both the RC-135 and E-4 fleet), and remaining jets had been moved to dry parking aprons at Offut.
But here’s the problem: the simulator buildings are underwater and the cockpit/mission crew sims may be a total loss. Not aware of any simulators at overseas bases where the RC-135 Rivet Joint/Combat Sent/Cobra Ball/Open Skies jets frequently deploy. Initial and upgrade training for front end and mission crew personnel will be impacted for several months—not sure how the USAF can work around that.
One more note: after a less severe flood damaged portions of Offut in 2011, FEMA ordered the levees protecting the base be raised by another two feet. It was supposedly a priority project, but (predictably) became bogged down in red tape. The “permitting” process (including environmental impact assessments) took more than six years and cost $6 million (total price tag for the project was only $25 million).
Final construction permits were issued—you guessed it—just weeks before the flood. That $6 million bureaucratic delay will now cost the taxpayers at least $1 billion, to clean up Offut and get it back to full operating capacity, and of course, raise those levees.
I was on TDY at Offutt AFB in the 80s. It sure made this dog face jealous of the Airforce.
The land was cheaper plus it’s topo required a lot less grading. How could you go wrong?
Thanks.
Every few years the Missouri and Mississippi rivers remind us they don’t care what we think.
I just found it and posted it on this thread if you are interested.
Thanks.
You can bet the insurance companies will already know all about a flood plain. And they will either adjust their rates to compensate for this fact or deny flood damage coverage altogether. Been there.
Easier to repair than major earthquake damage.
When playing poker with “loud-mouthed idiots” never underestimate the cards they might be holding.
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