At a Glance

About a third of the base has been cut off by floodwaters.Thirty buildings have as much as 8 feet of water in them.Offutt is the second U.S. Air Force Base to be hit by a natural disaster in less than six months.

Flooding from the Missouri River has shut down the runway and inundated 30 buildings at Offutt Air Force Base south of Omaha, Nebraska.

Offutt is home to U.S. Strategic Command, which oversees America's strategic nuclear forces, and the 55th Wing.

It's the second U.S. air base to suffer damage in a natural disaster in less than six months. Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida was forced to close for two months after Hurricane Michael devastated the base on Oct. 10.

Offutt was on Sunday after about a third of the facility was cut off by rising floodwaters.

Thirty buildings have been , Tech. Sgt. Rachelle Blake, a 55th Wing spokeswoman, told the Omaha World-Herald. Another 30 buildings have been damaged. There are 200 buildings on the base.

(MORE: Historic Flooding in Nebraska, Iowa Cuts Off Entire Towns)

The base's runway has been closed until 1 p.m. Tuesday, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. is covered with water.

Offutt's said base "personnel worked around the clock to fortify facilities with more than 235,000 sandbags and 460 flood barriers."

Floodwaters have covered about a third of Offutt Air Force Base in Bellevue, Nebraska, south of Omaha. About 3,000 feet of runway also has been flooded.

(55th Wing Commander/Facebook)

"Water is rising at a rapid rate on the SE side of the base. Water is entering from the river and through the storm drains," 55th Wing Commander Michael Manion wrote on about 4 p.m. Saturday. "Several buildings including the Wing Building are inundated with water. We continue to work as rapidly as possible to improve water defenses around critical infrastructure. Team Offutt is doing an incredible job — working together but Mother Nature is moving fast."

(MORE: Before-and-After Images Show Ongoing Flood Disaster in Nebraska and Iowa)

Some aircraft from the base, including RC-135s, flew to safer locations on Saturday.

The flooded buildings include the 55th Wing headquarters building, the E-4B Nightwatch hangar and the Bennie Davis Maintenance Facility, according to the World-Herald.

Historic flooding in the Midwest has swamped much of Offutt Air Force Base in Bellevue, Nebraska. Here, false-color images from the Operational Land Imager on Landsat 8 show the base's runways, center top, and the convergence of the Platte and Missouri rivers. The "before" image is from March 2018, and the "after" image was captured on Saturday, March 16, 2019.

(NASA Earth Observatory)

Strategic Command's headquarters, which sits on a hill, hasn't been damaged.

The command's new $1.3 billion headquarters, which will open in the spring, also was not damaged.

The 916,000-square-foot facility is designed to serve as the nation's military command headquarters, even during , the Associated Press reported earlier this year.

Construction began in October 2012, AP reported, but the project suffered many setbacks, including previous flooding, persistent mold, a fire and a tornado. The EF-1 tornado on June 16, 2017,, the Omaha World-Herald reported.

Last October, Tyndall Air Force Base, near Panama City, Florida, . The base has resumed some operations, but a lot of work remains.

(MORE: Every Structure on Florida Air Force Base Unlivable Following Hurricane Michael, General Says)

At the same time, some members of Congress are questioning the logic of rebuilding bases in areas known to be affected by natural disasters. In addition to Tyndall, Stars and Stripes reports, they are a Marine Corps base located on the North Carolina coast, that saw , according to Stars and Stripes.

“It is in harm’s way now. It has been in the past and it will be in the future,” Rep. John Garamendi, D-Calif., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee subpanel on readiness, said about Tyndall. “And the question that this committee is asking — and we will expect an answer from the Air Force — does it make any sense to rebuild at that place?”

During a hearing in March to discuss the resiliency of military bases to climate change and severe weather like hurricanes, tornadoes and wildfires, Garamendi said, “But we’re going to ask the very, very hard question about just how much is going to be done at that base (Tyndall). And similarly with Camp Lejeune. Are there other places that certain parts of the mission or all of the mission should be conducted?”