Areas across the country hit by flooding, wildfires and other natural disasters in 2018 and 2019 have gone months without help from Congress
By Andrew Duehren May 4, 2019 12:50 p.m. ET Tents house Air Force personnel displaced by Hurricane Michael at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla. A stalled disaster aid package in Congress is slowing recovery efforts in areas across the country hit by hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires and floods. Photo: Elijah Nouvelage for The Wall Street Journal TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla.—Only after the 160-mile-an-hour winds that Hurricane Michael unleashed here stopped rattling the walls did Air Force Col.
A building damaged by Hurricane Michael at Tyndall Air Force Base. As of May 1, all new reconstruction efforts at Tyndall have stopped. Photo: Elijah Nouvelage for The Wall Street Journal Funding for Tyndall Air Force base is just one piece of collateral damage in the monthslong impasse on a multibillion dollar disaster-aid package in Washington.
Debris from Hurricane Michael at Tyndall. Reconstruction cannot begin without new aid funding. Photo: Elijah Nouvelage for The Wall Street Journal While the Federal Emergency Management Agency has put $1.2 billion into Hurricane Michael relief in Florida as of April, the Air Force can no longer pay for new recovery projects. Contracts that already started at Tyndall—including mold removal and roof repairs—will continue, but the base can’t afford more than 120 additional repair projects.
“Congress has always stepped up and done this in the past,” said John Henderson, assistant secretary of the Air Force for installations, environment, and energy. “These were actions we were trying to avoid, but now they are an unfortunate necessity.” Gen. Melançon said many airmen on the base have families elsewhere because the base lacks the infrastructure to bring them back. “It’s frustrating for the airmen here, it’s also pretty disheartening for the community.”
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