Keesler Air Force Base Eluded Cut Only to Be Crippled by Katrina
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BILOXI, Miss. — Keesler Air Force Base, a training and medical center, needs $500 million in repairs to recover from Hurricane Katrina, a commander said.
Brig. Gen. Bill Lord, wing commander of the 81st Training Wing, said Saturday that the base suffered $400 million in damage to the military complex and $100 million to housing but that there were no fatalities.
Keesler, between the Gulf of Mexico and the Back Bay of Biloxi, was one of six military bases in Louisiana and Mississippi that Katrina damaged. The hurricane hit Aug. 29, three days after the federal Base Realignment and Closure Commission voted to keep Keesler’s medical center intact.
The medical center, second-largest in the Air Force, was badly damaged by flooding and has been shut down.
“We got 5 feet of water all through the basement,” said Brig. Gen. Jim Dougherty of the 81st Medical Group.
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