March 29, 2024

Hurricane Damage Report: Military

Military Hit

Base repairs will run into the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Charlotte Crane | 11/1/2004
Northwest Florida twice dodged a bullet in this year's record-breaking Florida storm season, but its luck ran out with Ivan. The hurricane slammed the Panhandle, devastating its westernmost counties, Escambia and Santa Rosa.

The region's huge defense industry took a major hit. At Pensacola Naval Air Station, situated close to Ivan's center, the cost of repairs and reconstruction could run into the hundreds of millions of dollars, base public affairs officer Harry White says. The 90-year-old base, typically home to 9,000 students in training missions, including Naval Aviation Schools Command and the Naval Air Technical Training Center, was swept by 115-mph winds and a 26-foot storm surge. Ninety percent of buildings were damaged, some beyond salvage.

Northwest Florida military installations account for 34% of the gross regional product -- the highest proportion for any Florida region and more than three times the state economy's 9.8% military share, according to a University of West Florida study. Military contributions to the region's economy are part of $44 billion in defense-related spending and 714,000 jobs, statewide.

Among major Florida military bases, Pensacola's Naval Air Station took the biggest blow, but the impact of Ivan on other Panhandle bases was also significant. At Hurlburt Field near Fort Walton Beach, home to Special Operations Command, repair costs are expected to run $50 million; at nearby Eglin Air Force Base, a research and development and weapons testing center, storm recovery costs could approach $32 million.

Elsewhere in Florida, costs of damage to Department of Defense installations in Florida from Hurricanes Charley and Frances collectively amount to about $72.6 million, according to a supplemental disaster-related request by Florida Rep. C.W. Bill Young.

The damage does not increase chances of base closings in the region in the 2005 round for Base Realignment and Closure, says Susan Story, Gulf Power CEO and a member of Florida's BRAC advisory committee. She says rebuilding damaged bases is a totally separate operation from the BRAC process. Plus, "The bases across northwest Florida are critical to national defense. And the Department of Defense will recognize that,'' she says.

Meanwhile, Ivan's ugly footprints weren't confined to military installations. Recovery for Escambia County's $1-billion-a-year tourism industry could take months, says tourism director Ed Schroeder.

For Gulf Power Co., the storm was the most destructive in its 80 years -- a minimum $25-million toll. "We've never had 90% of our customers off before,'' says spokesman John Hutchinson. In the first 18 hours after the storm, "I don't think there was one light bulb burning in Escambia County."

Tags: Northwest

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