{"id":25068,"date":"2019-03-18T16:00:08","date_gmt":"2019-03-18T16:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/03\/18\/floodwaters-overwhelm-one-third-of-offutt-nine-aircraft-evacuated\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T20:42:04","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T20:42:04","slug":"floodwaters-overwhelm-one-third-of-offutt-nine-aircraft-evacuated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/news\/your-air-force\/2019\/03\/18\/floodwaters-overwhelm-one-third-of-offutt-nine-aircraft-evacuated\/","title":{"rendered":"Floodwaters overwhelm one-third of Offutt; nine aircraft evacuated"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Offutt Air Force Base officials in Nebraska hope the floodwaters that overwhelmed one-third of the base<\/a> this weekend \u2014 swamping dozens of buildings, much of the flightline, and prompting the evacuation of several aircraft \u2014 will start significantly receding<\/a> by the end of the week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Col. Michael Manion, commander of the 55th Wing at Offutt, said in a Facebook post Sunday evening that the water had remained at the same level for about 12 hours, and was not expected to rise further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ryan Hansen, a spokesman for the 55th Wing, said on Monday that some water has already started to slightly recede.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hansen said nine aircraft \u2014 eight RC-135 Rivet Joint reconnaissance aircraft and an E-4B National Airborne Operations Center that belongs to Global Strike Command \u2014 were flown away from the base over the weekend. The Rivet Joints were flown to Nebraska\u2019s Lincoln Air National Guard Base, about 50 miles away, and MacDill Air Force Base in Florida, Hansen said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roughly 60 structures in all, including 30 buildings, are now flooded, with water reaching as much as eight feet high in some buildings, Hansen said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Offutt\u2019s two-mile flightline is also severely flooded, Hansen said. At its peak, Hansen said about 3,000 feet of flightline was flooded, though that has receded slightly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hansen said that Offutt\u2019s base housing \u2014 including official Offutt homes that were off-base \u2014 is all out of the flooded area and was undamaged. But an unknown number of Offutt personnel live in communities that were severely affected by the floods, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only mission-essential personnel are working at the base, which also hosts U.S. Strategic Command. Hansen said about 1,300 personnel, who worked in the now-flooded buildings, are at other temporary locations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Offutt officials said in a Sunday release that the melting of this winter\u2019s record-setting snowfall, as well as a big drop in air pressure earlier in the week due to the \u201cbomb cyclone\u201d that produced heavy snow, strong winds and several tornadoes, caused the Missouri River and Papio Creek to flood and \u201coverwhelm the southeastern side of the base.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The storm produced record flood levels for several Midwest rivers and forced the evacuation of hundreds of homes. And more rain is predicted Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Floodwaters started to creep onto the base Friday, Offutt officials said. Early that day, the base evacuated the Base Lake and personnel began trying to hold back the waters with 235,000 sandbags and 460 flood barriers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur team worked as rapidly as possible to improve water defenses around critical infrastructure,\u201d Manion said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But with waters advancing fast and flooding reaching so high, the sandbagging effort was abandoned late on Saturday, Hansen said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe did as much as we could to try to contain the infrastructure,\u201d Hansen said.<\/p>\n\n\n\t