Nebraska Flood Update: Offutt Air Force Base Cancels Air Show, Announces Refunds

The Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska announced Tuesday it was cancelling the 2019 Defenders of Freedom Air & Space Show. This was done in the wake of massive flooding in the state and its adjacent areas.

The Air Force base made the announcement through a press release on both its Facebook as well as Twitter pages, adding that anyone who had purchased a premium “Flight Deck” ticket to the event, scheduled to take place at the base in June, would receive a full refund.

“Assessing the impact to the base is ongoing, and we will recover,” the statement on Facebook said. “But it is obvious it will be some time before we can return to normal operations or have the capacity to host an event like an air show and open house. We sincerely enjoy opening our gates to the public and appreciate the tremendous support we get from Bellevue, Omaha and the surrounding communities and are committed to continuing the open house and air show at the next available opportunity.”

Rapidly melting snow, coupled with a big drop in air pressure due to the "bomb cyclone" spelt disaster for Nebraska last week, and the resulting weather phenomenon also affected the Air Force base adversely, causing one-third of the facility, including its headquarters and 30 buildings, to get inundated.

Water started to flow into the base Friday after the Missouri River and Papio Creek flooded. As base personnel tried but failed to hold back the waters with 235,000 sandbags and 460 flood barriers, the facility was evacuated. Only essential personnel were told to stay back. Soon after, nine aircraft – eight RC-135 Rivet Joint reconnaissance aircraft and an E-4B National Airborne Operations Center owned by Global Strike Command – had to be removed from the base for the weekend till the water receded, Business Insider reported.

By Sunday, headquarters facilities for the 55th Wing, 55th Security Forces Squadron, 97th Intelligence Squadron, and 343rd Reconnaissance Squadron, had been overwhelmed by the flood.

Dan Dunham, a spokesman for Sen. Deb Fischer (R-NE) said Monday that while the state was ready to provide full support in the recovery process of the base, the path to restoration would not be easy. Detailed damage assessment could only be done once the floodwaters recede and other emergency operations had concluded.

The before and post-flood images of the Offutt base, captured by NASA's Landsat 8 satellite were termed “biblical" by European Union Earth Observation Programme.

"Team Offutt has done an incredible job working together to battle this historic flood as best we can," Col. Michael Manion, commander of the 55th Wing at Offutt, said. "We can't thank our on-base mission partners enough for their support through this, as well as officials from the City of Bellevue, the City of LaVista, Sarpy County, the State of Nebraska and the Omaha Public Power district."