Severe winds damage Altus Air Force Base

  • Published
  • By Michael Fletcher
  • 97th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs Office
ALTUS AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  Altus Air Force Base and the City of Altus were struck at about 7 p.m. , June 5, by sustained winds of 40 mph and gusts clocked at 87 mph by the National Weather Service. Unconfirmed reports of funnel clouds were reported to local emergency operations centers. 

The wind knocked out the electrical grid supplying the community and Altus AFB and severely damaged many businesses and homes in the area. Despite the damage there were only two minor injuries reported. 

On Altus AFB, numerous trees were damaged or destroyed, the commercial electrical service interrupted, some buildings received roof damage and the flightline was covered with foreign object debris. No aircraft were damaged. Many migratory bird nests with newly hatched chicks were destroyed. Essential base operations and refrigeration systems went on generator power.

The next morning, hundreds of Airmen formed a line and conducted a flightline FOD walk, filling trucks with limbs and other debris to clear the runways and restore flying operations. Civil engineering started damage assessment and Airmen used chain saws and trucks to remove fallen trees and branches. Additional generators arrived from Vance AFB, Okla., Tinker AFB, Okla., and Sheppard AFB, Texas.

"I'm extremely proud of the way the Airmen in this wing came together in recovering from the storm's damage," said Col. David W. Allvin, 97th Air Mobility Wing commander. "We really had more volunteers than we could use, and within a few short hours we were conducting our flying mission again despite the fact that we were without our main power. We had Airmen lining up to assist our friends in the city of Altus with their cleanup as well. They are truly America's finest."

Volunteer airmen reported to the City of Altus EOC and were sent out in teams to help bring debris to street curbs for removal.

I'm very happy with the relationship between the city [of Altus] and Altus AFB," said Lloyd Colston, City of Altus emergency management director. "Shortly after the wind hit, representatives from the base emergency operations center came to our city EOC to coordinate disaster response. The next morning, volunteer Airmen came to the forefront to help the community and assisted residents in removing debris." 

Commercial power was restored after 72 hours of outage at 7 p.m., June 8. 

Damage estimate to Altus AFB is $5.5 million.