I said I had more photos... so here they are. (The descriptions are kinda vague. It's been a little while since I've been to KAFB plus without knowing the street names, I'm a little lost.)
Building
Same building
Housing
New housing
Street
Front gate/Visitors Center
Hanger
Building
Building
Building
Aircraft
Same aircraft
Building
Debris in road
Fire Station
Parking Lot
Same parking lot
Church
Trees
Street
Trees
CE Building
Larcher Street (From Blake Gym)
Muse Manor (car on fire)
Keesler AFB
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senorpepr
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I'm going to bump this thread since there are quite a few folks across the country wondering how their loved ones are doing who are stationed at Keesler or who are at Keesler for some sort of training.
Also... here's a news article...
Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., appears to have received the heaviest damage after taking a direct hit from the Category 4 hurricane.
"Initial reports show drastic damage to the industrial and housing areas," said Maj. Ray Mottley, commander of the 81st Civil Engineering Squadron. A complete damage assessment, to be conducted with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is expected to provide a more complete picture.
About 50 percent of the base was under water, and the commissary, base exchange and some base housing units were flooded with more than six feet of water, Mottley reported. Generators were in place to keep critical facilities operating, but Mottley said the base hospital and much of the base remains without power.
However, Keesler's airfield remains operational during daylight hours, and it has a fully operational sewage system and access to drinking water, Mottley said.
In the meantime, base officials are advising evacuees not to return to the base area until directed to do so, probably not before Sept. 2, and to monitor the base Web site at http://www.keesler.af.mil or call the Air Force Personnel Center at (800) 435-9941 for updates and instructions. Officials also advise Keesler residents who are able to do so to contact their families to let them know they're OK.
Airmen scheduled to report to Keesler for technical training are advised not to proceed with their plans until further notice. A stop-movement order remains in effect for Keesler, the 361st Training Squadron's Detachment 2 at Pensacola, Fla., and the 366th Training Squadron's Detachment 6 at Gulfport, Miss., Air Force officials said.
Six other Air Force bases are now back to normal operations, officials reported. These are Eglin Air Force Base, Hurlburt Field and Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla.; Barksdale Air Force Base, La.; Columbus Air Force Base, Miss.; and Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala.
Navy officials were still assessing damage to bases in the hurricane-ravaged area: Naval Air Station New Orleans, La.; Naval Support Activity New Orleans; Naval Station Pascagoula, Miss.; Naval Construction Battalion Center Gulfport, Miss.; and Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla.
Also... here's a news article...
Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., appears to have received the heaviest damage after taking a direct hit from the Category 4 hurricane.
"Initial reports show drastic damage to the industrial and housing areas," said Maj. Ray Mottley, commander of the 81st Civil Engineering Squadron. A complete damage assessment, to be conducted with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is expected to provide a more complete picture.
About 50 percent of the base was under water, and the commissary, base exchange and some base housing units were flooded with more than six feet of water, Mottley reported. Generators were in place to keep critical facilities operating, but Mottley said the base hospital and much of the base remains without power.
However, Keesler's airfield remains operational during daylight hours, and it has a fully operational sewage system and access to drinking water, Mottley said.
In the meantime, base officials are advising evacuees not to return to the base area until directed to do so, probably not before Sept. 2, and to monitor the base Web site at http://www.keesler.af.mil or call the Air Force Personnel Center at (800) 435-9941 for updates and instructions. Officials also advise Keesler residents who are able to do so to contact their families to let them know they're OK.
Airmen scheduled to report to Keesler for technical training are advised not to proceed with their plans until further notice. A stop-movement order remains in effect for Keesler, the 361st Training Squadron's Detachment 2 at Pensacola, Fla., and the 366th Training Squadron's Detachment 6 at Gulfport, Miss., Air Force officials said.
Six other Air Force bases are now back to normal operations, officials reported. These are Eglin Air Force Base, Hurlburt Field and Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla.; Barksdale Air Force Base, La.; Columbus Air Force Base, Miss.; and Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala.
Navy officials were still assessing damage to bases in the hurricane-ravaged area: Naval Air Station New Orleans, La.; Naval Support Activity New Orleans; Naval Station Pascagoula, Miss.; Naval Construction Battalion Center Gulfport, Miss.; and Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla.
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senorpepr
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SAN ANTONIO -- For the first time since Hurricane Katrina forced them into shelters, 6,000 people at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., ventured outside for a breath of fresh air.
That was late in the day on Aug. 30, just after eating their first hot meal since the devastating hurricane nearly blew the base and that section of the Gulf Coast off the map.
People stood in line for up to two hours to get their first hot food in days, said Lt. Col. Claudia Foss, the 81st Training Wing spokesperson.
“We were able to feed 6,000 people at one dining facility,” she said. Then, after being cooped up for days, families just wanted to go outside and get some fresh air.
“The kids were all anxious to get out of the shelters and play,” she said.
But that somewhat festive mood ended for most Aug. 31 when families who live on the training base got to visit their homes for the first time since they evacuated them late last week. Most of the base housing area along the Bay of Biloxi shoreline is uninhabitable because of water damage caused by the tidal surge, said Colonel Foss, whose house was among those heavily damaged.
However, there has been little time to ponder the damage. Most people have been concerned with just making it past the storm, Colonel Foss said. And after the hurricane swept past, people working to get the base back on track have been too focused on that to worry much about their homes, she said.
However, that is not the case with their families, she said. Most are anxious about what they will find when they return home.
“(Aug. 31) is the first day folks are actually going to look at their homes -- to assess (the damage),” the colonel said. “So today is going to be very emotional.” She said special life skills teams are standing by to help people cope with their losses.
Afterward, base officials will determine where to lodge people once they can leave the base’s seven shelters. Some will have to move to another shelter on the base, or “whatever is available,” she said.
The tidal surge that followed the hurricane’s high winds devastated the base. Nearly every building received damage. Many roads still remain chocked with debris. And there is no electrical power available, except that provided by emergency generators to critical buildings. Communications are minimal and only Defense Systems Network telephones work.
“We can’t call commercially from here,” Colonel Foss said.
Outside the base’s main gate the destruction is catastrophic. The city of Biloxi, Miss., is flooded, and the hurricane erased many parts of the nearby Gulf Coast. It is the same in Louisiana and Alabama.
Television images are of the destruction of New Orleans, which is now under a state of martial law. Military helicopters are picking up people stranded on rooftops. Clean water and power are gone. Food supplies and gas and ice are dwindling fast and sewage is backing up in many coastal cities and towns.
A railway runs past the Keesler front gate. And past the tracks is Highway 90. That was the way it was before Katrina struck.
That is all “basically a coastline now,” Colonel Foss said.
About an hour east of the base, Lake Pontchartrain continues to flood New Orleans, which is more than 80-percent underwater. There is no potable water available and Louisiana state officials have declared a state of martial law.
“We do have drinking water. We do have the sewage system up and running,” the colonel said.
And more help is arriving at the base. The Air Force has mobilized to help the people at Keesler and the entire area, if needed. Commanders of other Air Force bases have pledged their support. And Air Mobility Command C-17 Globemaster III and C-5 Galaxy aircraft are flying relief equipment to the airport at Lafayette, La.
On Aug. 30, a C-130 Hercules and C-17 landed to medevac 25 hospital patients and 31 pregnant women in their third trimester to Wilford Hall Medical Center at Lackland AFB, Texas.
“We’re getting a lot of great help,” the colonel said.
The hurricane has killed at least 80 people and officials said the storm may have killed hundreds in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
But at Keesler, every person is accounted for, the colonel said.
That was late in the day on Aug. 30, just after eating their first hot meal since the devastating hurricane nearly blew the base and that section of the Gulf Coast off the map.
People stood in line for up to two hours to get their first hot food in days, said Lt. Col. Claudia Foss, the 81st Training Wing spokesperson.
“We were able to feed 6,000 people at one dining facility,” she said. Then, after being cooped up for days, families just wanted to go outside and get some fresh air.
“The kids were all anxious to get out of the shelters and play,” she said.
But that somewhat festive mood ended for most Aug. 31 when families who live on the training base got to visit their homes for the first time since they evacuated them late last week. Most of the base housing area along the Bay of Biloxi shoreline is uninhabitable because of water damage caused by the tidal surge, said Colonel Foss, whose house was among those heavily damaged.
However, there has been little time to ponder the damage. Most people have been concerned with just making it past the storm, Colonel Foss said. And after the hurricane swept past, people working to get the base back on track have been too focused on that to worry much about their homes, she said.
However, that is not the case with their families, she said. Most are anxious about what they will find when they return home.
“(Aug. 31) is the first day folks are actually going to look at their homes -- to assess (the damage),” the colonel said. “So today is going to be very emotional.” She said special life skills teams are standing by to help people cope with their losses.
Afterward, base officials will determine where to lodge people once they can leave the base’s seven shelters. Some will have to move to another shelter on the base, or “whatever is available,” she said.
The tidal surge that followed the hurricane’s high winds devastated the base. Nearly every building received damage. Many roads still remain chocked with debris. And there is no electrical power available, except that provided by emergency generators to critical buildings. Communications are minimal and only Defense Systems Network telephones work.
“We can’t call commercially from here,” Colonel Foss said.
Outside the base’s main gate the destruction is catastrophic. The city of Biloxi, Miss., is flooded, and the hurricane erased many parts of the nearby Gulf Coast. It is the same in Louisiana and Alabama.
Television images are of the destruction of New Orleans, which is now under a state of martial law. Military helicopters are picking up people stranded on rooftops. Clean water and power are gone. Food supplies and gas and ice are dwindling fast and sewage is backing up in many coastal cities and towns.
A railway runs past the Keesler front gate. And past the tracks is Highway 90. That was the way it was before Katrina struck.
That is all “basically a coastline now,” Colonel Foss said.
About an hour east of the base, Lake Pontchartrain continues to flood New Orleans, which is more than 80-percent underwater. There is no potable water available and Louisiana state officials have declared a state of martial law.
“We do have drinking water. We do have the sewage system up and running,” the colonel said.
And more help is arriving at the base. The Air Force has mobilized to help the people at Keesler and the entire area, if needed. Commanders of other Air Force bases have pledged their support. And Air Mobility Command C-17 Globemaster III and C-5 Galaxy aircraft are flying relief equipment to the airport at Lafayette, La.
On Aug. 30, a C-130 Hercules and C-17 landed to medevac 25 hospital patients and 31 pregnant women in their third trimester to Wilford Hall Medical Center at Lackland AFB, Texas.
“We’re getting a lot of great help,” the colonel said.
The hurricane has killed at least 80 people and officials said the storm may have killed hundreds in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
But at Keesler, every person is accounted for, the colonel said.
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