Photo By christine walker | An aerial photo shows one-third of Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, covered by...... read more read more
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Offutt recovers and rebuilds seven years after historic flood By Christine Alombro Walker
AFCEC Natural Disaster Recovery Division, CTR
Seven years ago on March 15, 2019, the Missouri River flooded Offutt Air Force Base, inundating a third of the installation, destroying 1.2 million square feet of workspace, and damaging 137 facilities.
Offutt is home to the 55th Wing, the largest wing in Air Combat Command and the second largest in the Air Force. The base also serves as the headquarters for U.S. Strategic Command and 50 other associate units.
Before the floodwater submerged 3,000 feet of Offutt’s 11,700-foot runway, the installation’s aircraft were evacuated. Despite the tireless efforts of hundreds of Airmen filling sandbags, the floodwater surged over the existing levees, flooding the lower third of the installation with over 720 million gallons of water. The damage displaced over 3,000 personnel into temporary workspaces.
The Road to Recovery
The day before the flood, Don Fucik, who was finalizing the USSTRATCOM headquarters construction project for the Air Force Civil Engineer Center, checked the river level.
“I knew there would be issues when I saw the river topping over one section, but the next day, I never expected a third of the base would be flooded,” he said.
Since May 2019, Fucik has been an essential member of the Offutt Flood Recovery Program. After AFCEC created its Natural Disaster Recovery Division in 2021, Fucik became the senior AFCEC NDR Offutt Program Manager. The NDR Division was established to help Air Force installations rebuild and modernize following natural disasters.
“Everyone worked very hard from day one with clean up... (we) formed a great working relationship with Army Corps of Engineers and the 55th Civil Engineer Squadron,” Fucik said. “We all came together as a team with one goal in mind, to recover Offutt AFB as fast as we could and to make the missions more efficient.”
This partnership continues to transform Offutt.By utilizing one contract for demolition and site prep, AFCEC and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers expedited reconstruction and saved money. This strategy allowed for the installation of all critical utility systems such as stormwater, sanitary sewer, potable water, natural gas, communications, and electrical lines in their correct locations before vertical construction began.
“Rapid damage assessments quickly put forward Offutt’s recovery and reconstruction requirements to Congress for supplemental funding and to have the installation rebuilt right for today’s mission and future requirements,” said Mike Dwyer, deputy chief of the Natural Disaster Recovery Division.
A Timeline of Strategic Consolidation
Offutt’s reconstruction plans consolidated facilities that were once spread out into a strategic, eight-campus plan, saving significant travel time.
“Offutt has a well-thought-out design moving organizations together,” said Col. Rob Bartlow, AFCEC NDR Division chief. “This consolidates 19 new facilities with similar missions, which is an improvement compared with Offutt’s pre-flood facility layout.”
The speed of the rebuild has been unprecedented, said Lt. Col. Joel Hearn, AFCEC NDR Offutt Branch Chief.
“The flood happened in 2019. By 2023, construction was in full swing,” he said.
After completing demolition and site preparation in December 2023, the first new facilities to open were the Lake Campus softball fields and recreation facility in 2024. The momentum continued into 2025, with several mission-critical campuses completed. The 55th Logistics Readiness Squadron Campus, finished in March 2025, is “streamlining the delivery of items across the base and to the flightline for sustaining operational readiness,” Hearn said.
Just a month later, in April 2025, the new 93,000-square-foot Security Forces Campus opened.
“It impresses me the most,” Fucik said, noting it consolidates the squadron’s entire mission. The campus features a headquarters for the 600-plus person squadron, a combined combat arms training facility, and centralized military working dog facilities.
By September 2025, the Non-Kinetic Operations-Operations Support Squadron/Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape Campus and the flightline campus were also complete, marking the restoration of more than half of the installation's lost facilities.
The Final Phase
Three major projects mark the final phase of reconstruction. The most complex, the Non-Kinetic Operations, or NKO, campus, is projected for completion in 2028.
"These squadrons came together during the planning phase ... to create a facility that will facilitate a collaborative environment,” Bartlow said.
Two other critical facilities are expected in 2027. The MILSTAR Satellite Communications campus will feature High-Altitude Electromagnetic Pulse shielding to ensure it remains self-sustaining through a power grid failure. The Nuclear Command, Control, and Communication campus will consolidate three previously separate missions into a single location: an alert facility, an aircraft maintenance and parts storage facility, and a family visitation center.
Reflecting on the seven-year recovery effort, Fucik credited his team for the project's achievements. “It’s remarkable," he said. "The success reflects the hard work our small NDR Offutt team is accomplishing!”
| Date Taken: | 04.14.2026 |
| Date Posted: | 04.14.2026 16:10 |
| Story ID: | 562668 |
| Location: | PANAMA CITY, FLORIDA, US |
| Hometown: | PANAMA CITY, FLORIDA, US |
| Web Views: | 61 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
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