FL - Five Years After Hurricane Hit, Florida AFB $5B Rebuild Focuses on Resilience

Tyndall Air Force base in northern Florida is a hive of construction activity five years after its devastation from Hurricane Michael when the Category 5 storm it swept ashore on Oct. 10, 2018—destroying nearly every structure.

“The decision was made very quickly and the storm only gave us one option … to rebuild from scratch,” says Col. Robert Bartlow, chief of the Air Force Civil Engineer Natural Disaster Recovery Division, based at the base, located 12 miles west of Panama City.

Four years of planning followed, and the first new building, a simulator facility, was completed in August 2022. Four or five more have recently completed or will complete in the next several months, says Bartlow. By the sixth anniversary of Hurricane Michael's landfall, a little more than half the program will be done, with full completion set for mid-2025 or early 2026.

The monumental, $5-billion effort will transform the base into what the U.S. Air Force terms “the installation of the future”—buttressed against damaging hurricanes out of the Gulf of Mexico with updated and enhanced building requirements and an all-of-the-above approach to resilience that includes nature-based solutions.

“When everything’s done, I anticipate Tyndall being a highly sought-after assignment based on the quality of the facilities and the people,” Bartlow says.

Performance standards for new structures at Tyndall define risk categories for buildings from 165- to 203-mph winds, and sets the design flood elevation at 19 ft above mean sea level for the Gulf side of the base and 14 ft above sea level for the East Bay side.

When Michael made landfall near Tyndall in Florida’s panhandle, it brought a storm surge of 9-14 ft and winds of 140-161 mph, according to the National Weather Service, causing catastrophic damage from Panama City Beach to Mexico Beach and Cape San Blas.

Tyndall experienced sustained winds of 155 mph from Michael, which was the strongest sustained wind-speed hurricane to hit the continental U.S. in more than 25 years, according to NWS. Before the storm, more than 11,000 people were evacuated with just 93 remaining on-base.

“The pictures don’t do it justice,” says Bartlow. “Any (buildings) left standing had significant damage such that for the most part they weren’t usable.”

Arriving at Tyndall about three weeks after the storm, he says it recalled images of his deployments to Iraq in the early 2000s, working out of airfields essentially destroyed early in the war.

“It felt and looked a lot like that,” he says. “As an engineer, it was overwhelming.”

When then-Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson visited the base, Bartlow recalls her saying not to build back what was there, but to “build back the base that we need going into the future,” focused on resiliency after the unprecedented storm.

Every facility on the almost 30,000-acre base suffered damage to some degree, from either the winds, storm surge or heavy rainfall, rendering them all unsalvageable from an economic standpoint. After the demolition of 276 buildings, Tyndall turned its eyes toward the Installation of the Future, planning more than 3 million sq ft of construction in 144 buildings for the rebuilding program.

Today, around 95% of that program is under construction, up from about 30% one year ago, Bartlow says. All facilities being constructed will be designed to withstand wind speeds of at least 165 mph and raised to elevations to withstand storm surges for the next 75-100 years, he says, constructed with low-maintenance materials.

Breaking Ground

Currently, 40 construction projects are underway, spanning a dozen construction zones and totaling roughly $3.1 billion in contracts, says Don Arias, Air Force spokesperson. Adding in other projects, including facilities, sustainment, restoration and modernization, as well as operations and maintenance funding, the total comes to about $5.1 billion.

Among those contracts is a May 10, 2022 $532-million award to Hensel Phelps for 11 facilities, including three aircraft hangars, flight simulator facility, squadron maintenance complex and group headquarters building.

A Pacwest-Korte Joint Venture is constructing the base’s sports complex and pool facility, a $38.2-million project with outdoor pool and splash park, bath house, playground, four ballfields and recreational support building as well as utilities, site improvements and other supporting work.

Gate complexes designed to withstand 165-mph winds, including gatehouses, lane houses, overwatch positions, active barrier systems and canopies, are being constructed by B.L. Harbert International, which was awarded the $42.8-million contract May 6, 2022.

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