Truck exhaust, IT woes and piles of rubble: Offutt faces uphill battle to rebuild – By Rachel S. Cohen (Military Times) / May 16, 2022
OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE, Nebraska — The floodwaters that swallowed around one-third of this base in suburban Omaha are long gone. But three years later, Offutt’s airmen are still fighting to stay afloat.
Most employees have not returned to their former workspaces, some of which were freshly renovated before the flood hit in March 2019. It will be several more years before they can move back into offices that promise to be better than what they lost.
The mess is a sign of progress — and a reminder that Offutt will be worse long before it gets better.
“There’s three inches of mold growing in here. We’ve had concrete failures. We’ve had sewer lines ruptured,” said Maj. Eric Armstrong, deputy director of the effort to rebuild Offutt, told Air Force Times during an April 25 visit. “The damage is internal to the facilities … so getting people to comprehend that has been a struggle, at best.”
