Floods suggest national security threat from climate change

[RV_]

Here are pics and videos of the damage at Offut AFB. Some of us have lived through natural disasters and pitched in while active duty. But the bases were not affected as much save for coastal hurricane damages that are to be expected. But not on bases away from coastal areas and volcano/earthquake activity before as now.

Excerpt:

"Floods suggest national security threat from climate change

OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE, Neb. (AP) — The Missouri River floodwater surging on to the air base housing the U.S. military's Strategic Command overwhelmed round-the-clock sandbagging by airmen and others. They had to scramble to save sensitive equipment, munitions and dozens of aircraft.

Days into the flooding, muddy water was still lapping at almost 80 flooded buildings at Nebraska's Offutt Air Force Base, some inundated by up to 7 feet (2.1 meters) of water. Piles of waterlogged corn cobs, husks and stalks lay heaped everywhere that the water had receded, swept onto the base from surrounding fields.

"In the end, obviously, the waters were just too much. It took over everything we put up," Col. David Norton, who is in charge of facilities at the base, told an Associated Press reporter on a tour of the damage. "The speed at which it came in was shocking."

Though the headquarters of Strategic Command, which plays a central role in detecting and striking at global threats, wasn't damaged, the flooding provided a dramatic example of how climate change poses a national security threat, even as the Trump administration plays down the issue.

It is also a reminder that the kind of weather extremes escalating with climate change aren't limited to the coasts, said retired Rear Adm. David W. Titley, founder of both the Navy's Task Force on Climate Change and the Center for Solutions to Weather and Climate Risk at Penn State University.

Earlier heavy flooding at Offutt has prompted the base to start raising its levee by 2 feet this year, said Maj. Meghan M. Liemburg-Archer, spokeswoman for Strategic Command.

Sandbagging had held back 2011 floods at the base. The flooding that poured in starting March 15 was worse, Norton, the base's support group commander, said.

"It was all hands on deck," Norton said. "All through the night, we worked. It was thousands of people, in total, working to sandbag, move in huge Hesco barriers; a whole host of people clearing equipment out of facilities, moving munitions ... even crews doing things like disconnecting power. It was a massive effort."

More than 30 aircraft were towed to higher ground or flown to other locations. Crews hauled out loads of equipment, engines and tools.

By Saturday, the flood had rolled over a third of the base, swamping more than 1.2 million square feet of buildings.

Though Strategic Command headquarters escaped flooding, it had to cut staff to a minimum as high water blocked roads. The command holds down a range of responsibilities, including global strike capacity, missile defense, nuclear operations and strategic deterrence.

Inundated buildings include the 55th Wing headquarters, the massive Bennie L. Davis Maintenance Facility and a building that houses the 55th Wing's flight simulators.

About 3,000 feet of the base's 11,700-foot runway is submerged.

"The good news is that no one on the base was injured," Norton said. "We know how lucky we are."

https://news.yahoo.com/floods-expose-threat-military-posed-climate-change-043404175--politics.html

[Big Rick]

Floods  have happened since the beginning of time. Has nothing to do with “global warming “

 

is is the climate changing, probably, it has been changing since this earth was formed

Edited April 6, 2019 by Big Rick
Spelling

[Dutch_12078]

http://www.scotese.com/climate.htm

[Kirk W]

Whether from global warming or some other reason, I have lived long enough to know that climate change is happening. Scientists do tell us that such things have happened before but not in modern history or withing recorded history. I am not so much concerned about the reason as I am about the result. 

[Sehc]

It is proven fact that the climate is growing very warm, very fast. It is proven that human actions are causing most of this. But don't confuse weather with climate.

[docj]

17 hours ago, Kirk W said:

I am not so much concerned about the reason as I am about the result. 

"I got some ocean front property in Arizona 
From my front porch you can see the sea 
I got some ocean front property in Arizona...."  😁

[Twotoes]

Well docj, not far from Yuma AZ is El Central CA which is below sea level so some day you may have ocean front property in AZ. 

[RV_]

Those in base housing lost most of their stuff at both bases. There were pics and interviews that brought home that the folks had more loss than I initially thought.

[remoandiris]

22 hours ago, Sehc said:

It is proven fact that the climate is growing very warm, very fast. It is proven that human actions are causing most of this. But don't confuse weather with climate.

The graph above does not confuse climate with weather.  As has been stated previously, the climate has been changing ever since there has been a climate.  

When the term "global warming" failed to raise an alarm, the term was altered to "climate change".  Now humans think they can reverse the current trend of climate change, but only some countries need participate.  

It is unfortunate floods happen, but they have happened before.  This time an AFB was impacted.  I remember several years of flooding, decades ago, when the cities of Grand Forks and East Grand Forks were flooded.  Similar story to AFBs near Tampa and the Fla panhandle being hit by hurricanes.  Its not a national security threat just because a military base is in the direct path of nature.  What about earthquakes in CA or tornadoes in KS and OK.  A mile-wide twister could easily wipe out the flightline and hangars at McConnell or Tinker.  

[Sehc]

Climate Change, Global Warming, Co2 saturation, what ever you want. It is a international emergency. Humans must stop contributing to atmospheric contamination.

[Dutch_12078]

The urgency for remedial action is not because the climate is changing, but because it's changing much more rapidly than in the past. And that increased speed is directly attributable to human actions...

[DJW]

Boys I think we need to dial this back.  This could go nuclear  real quick.  There was a bad flood in my home state of Nebraska I think we should leave it at that.

 

Dennis

[Duck]

All I want to know is if  interstate 20 is safe at Vicksburg, Mississippi and is any body there in an rv? We are headed that way tomorrow and are a little nervous.

[oldbutspry]

All I'll say is that it would seem very hypocritical for anyone to believe in global warming and drive an RV.

[chirakawa]

1 hour ago, Duck said:

 interstate safe

Oxymoron

[DJW]

Duck

You do realize that we were talking about the flooding in Nebraska right?  Mississippi is a good 850 miles away.  Ya might want to check with the Mississippi Dept of Transportation on road condition in the state!

Dennis

[mptjelgin]

5 hours ago, oldbutspry said:

All I'll say is that it would seem very hypocritical for anyone to believe in global warming and drive an RV.

Why?  Our lifestyle leaves a very mild energy footprint. While we do burn more fuel when we're actually underway, we live in a very small house in climates that generally require little heating or cooling. Day in and day out our energy needs are tiny compared to most Americans who are living in 2000+ sf homes and are either heating or cooling them for significant portions of the year.  We can often get by on only what our 560 watts of solar provides, and otherwise seldom draw more than 30 amps total. 

It would be interesting to see numbers on "total amount of energy consumed" between a full-time RV lifestyle and a more common sticks-and-bricks lifestyle. 

Edited April 9, 2019 by mptjelgin

[WILDEBILL308]

I am glad the climate is warming up. Why was nobody complaining about it when the ice sheets were over a mile thick in New Jersey? 

12 hours ago, oldbutspry said:

All I'll say is that it would seem very hypocritical for anyone to believe in global warming and drive an RV.

Hypocritical, what I think is hypocritical is Al Gore who started this tale and made his fortune on selling Global Warming. Why is he  flying around in his private jet if he believed in it?  Well there is to much more. 

Bill 

[Pieere]

Mother Nature has no respect for us! Climate change keeps happening like it has for eons! Unfortunately like other disasters we have to pay closer attention to our surroundings! 

[Dutch_12078]

45 minutes ago, Pieere said:

Mother Nature has no respect for us! Climate change keeps happening like it has for eons! Unfortunately like other disasters we have to pay closer attention to our surroundings! 

Man plans and Mother Nature says, "Hold my beer"...

[markandkim]

RV, you need to find something to do with yourself,

What the heck?

[RV_]

Mark and Kim that info is of interest to me and other USAF vets that have been there or stationed there at any base. Mark, I am fully re-tired and that is a full time job! Thanks but I have my move, to our new home in Colorado Springs, and selling this house and most of the contents, vehicles, Zero turn, push, self-propelled push mowers, Craftsman riding mower/lawn tractor, Ford Workmaster 601 I totally restored but with electronic 12 volt ignition and new everything else. My new 2019 Forester is a whole learning curve in itself, man is it heavy on technology!  Years ago when Mark Nemeth was running the forums as admin I asked him to start this Veterans forum, so we could pass along info on congress critter votes that impact our benefits be they retirees, medically retired, active duty, and active reserves, so we could contact our representatives either way, as well as items of interest to vets and not others. I am about to post the Military.com Air Force Insider here too. Have a better day!

 

 

[RV_]

On 4/9/2019 at 9:03 AM, Duck said:

All I want to know is if  interstate 20 is safe at Vicksburg, Mississippi and is any body there in an rv? We are headed that way tomorrow and are a little nervous.

Hi Duck!

I notice this is your first post. You might want to post that in General RV Information for more response. If you are military vet or retired we can answer if any of us are there. I am in NW Louisiana, and have heard of no closures but we will have a weather front move in later this week. Why not call the RV park you plan on staying at and ask them if they have any show stopper flooding expected? THat's what I would do.

In any event, welcome to the Escapee Forums and a great group of folks, with a few grumps thrown in for good measure. Read around a lot here and you'll get the hang of the forums here. I hope everything goes well for you visit to Historic Vicksburg.

[remoandiris]

On 4/9/2019 at 9:40 PM, WILDEBILL308 said:

Hypocritical, what I think is hypocritical is Al Gore who started this tale and made his fortune on selling Global Warming. Why is he  flying around in his private jet if he believed in it?  Well there is to much more. 

Bill 

Al uses his vast wealth and buys "carbon offsets".  The other 99% of us don't have the funds to do that.  

[Big Rick]

But he got a lot of his wealth SELLING the carbon offsets to the Believers