Posted on 09/09/2005 9:54:16 AM PDT by GreyFriar
WASHINGTON (AP) - Military housing, airport hangars, equipment and power lines were heavily damaged at six military bases across Louisiana and Mississippi, forcing nearly $1 billion in emergency repairs, according to base personnel and other defense officials.
A Navy facility in New Orleans is partially flooded and all but essential personnel are still evacuated. Hurricane winds and heavy rain slammed other bases, but many are up and running now.....
There have been no reported military casualties.
A federal base closing commission had voted earlier to shut down one of the damaged bases, Naval Station Pascagoula, as well as the inpatient care facility at the hard-hit Keesler Air Force Base. It is unclear how possible future closure of those facilities, both in Mississippi, would affect any repair plans.......
The east side of the Naval Support Activity base in New Orleans, however, is still underwater, and the west side was torn up by heavy winds and rain. There is still no power and only essential personnel are on the base.
Read the rest at: http://www.wtopnews.com/index.php?sid=566958&nid=330&template=print
(Excerpt) Read more at wtopnews.com ...
Ping
Sounds to me like there may be some additional base closures instead of repair.
That may not be a bad idea..if the bases are
allready destryed, wht not relocate still
valuable assets to bases that are still
operational...one could hardly say that their
"closings" could have a "damaging" effect
on the local economies..
my brother in law was slated to goto the NO base last week. with that base closed he's now stuck in chicago with nothing to do all day but stand watch. at this point he has no idea where he might get sent, or if he has to wait there until NO re-opens.
Jackson Barracks , New Orleans, Louisiana
Down river from the French Quarter, Jackson Barracks houses the Louisiana National Guard Headquarters...
The Louisiana National Guard built its HQ in a place where the greatest potential natural disaster, breach of the levies in New Orleans, would automatically knock out its HQ and commo. That helps explain why they were not more on the ball, HQ was wading out with everyone else. It also makes Govc. Blanco's failure to ask President Bush to Federalize this problem all the more blameworthy.
Why repair at that cost, couldn't they just relocate base to one of the bases closed ?
NAS Belle Chasse in Plaquemines Parish was built at sea level. Everyone living and working at the NAS Belle Chasse was ordered to evacuate on Saturday before the hurricane. There is no such thing as, "Well, I'm staying" as one cannot when the base has to close.
There were no deaths at the NAS. Property damage due to flooding was minimal. My husband will be stationed out of Atlanta until the base reopens.
ping
Paging KBR.....
Yeah, Bill O'Reilly would have had our entire military staged on the beaches, only to be swept away by the storm surge. He's being really idiotic on this point.
Thanks for posting this, lest it be forgotten that the US military also got wacked by this storm.
Thanks,
I should have put it into a catagory that would have gotten it listed on the sideboard list of posts so that more people would have known about it.
Jim, Is there a way to still do this?
after thinking about New Orleans my thoughts went out to the military bases and the B-52 airbase out there.
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