At a Glance

The Air Force needs $1.2 billion in funding this year to rebuild and repair storm-ravaged Tyndall and Offutt. The funding is currently stalled in Congress. Projects at other bases have been delayed to help pay for the disaster damage.

Repairs to hurricane-ravaged Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida and flooded Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska are in limbo as the Air Force waits for Congress to approve disaster relief funds.

John Henderson, assistant secretary of the Air Force for installations, environment and energy, told reporters this week that 121 rebuilding projects at Tyndall would be delayed due to lack of funding, Defense News reported.

“These are repair projects for facilities,” Henderson said. “It’s doing ion roofs, doing mold remediation, completing the demolition on buildings that are partially demolished and have standing [water]. We had 29,000 acres of trees. Seventy-five percent of those trees are knocked over and they’re drying up and becoming a risk - a fire risk.”

A damaged airplane hanger is seen on the grounds of Tyndall Air Force Base after Hurricane Michael caused catastrophic damage to the base in October 2018.

(Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

He added that the damaged buildings will continue to decay and be susceptible to further damage, especially at Tyndall where unusable buildings stand vulnerable to the upcoming hurricane season.

“It will leave facilities that are partially destroyed in that state," Henderson said. "So in other words when the wind comes up, we still have debris blowing off those buildings until we get them demolished.”

Tyndall sustained an estimated $4.7 billion in damage when , a Category 5 storm, pummeled the base and the Florida Panhandle last October. Nearly 700 buildings were destroyed and 11,000 personnel forced to relocate. Offutt Air Force Base near Omaha sustained more than $350 million in damage during in March.

Floodwaters covered about a third of Offutt Air Force Base near Omaha during flooding in March.

(55th Wing Commander/Facebook)

The Air Force needs some to continue rebuilding efforts at both Tyndall and Offutt this year, and another $3.7 billion next year, the Panama City News Herald reported.

"Homeowners and businesses purchase insurance to protect themselves from these kinds of disasters, but that's not for the military," Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson said Tuesday in a statement, according to the Military Times. "When unavoidable catastrophes strike our facilities, supplemental funding is our only recourse. If they don't step in, our communities, our readiness, and our security all pay the price."

On Wednesday, Wilson tweeted that "Our readiness, our nation's security, & the economic engine of communities surrounding our bases should not be put at risk."

The money is being held up as Congress debates how much disaster aid to provide Puerto Rico, which is part of the same disaster relief bill, according to Defense News.

Meanwhile, the Air Force has diverted millions of dollars set aside for upgrades to aging infrastructure at bases across the country. Wilson said the situation "is impacting all of our bases."

"We'll continue to face natural disasters, but we can't set the precedent of not rebuilding our bases following a storm like Hurricane Michael," she said, according to the Military Times report. "A natural disaster shouldn't decide whether our communities keep their bases."