Camp Lejeune: 900 Buildings With Missing Walls, R

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Camp Lejeune: 900 Buildings With Missing Walls, Roofs 7 Months After Hurricane Florence

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More than six months after Hurricane Florence ravaged North Carolina, hundreds of buildings at Camp Lejeune and two other nearby Marine Corps installations remain frozen in time, with walls still caved in and roofs missing.

The Marines say they need $3.6 billion to repair the damage to more than 900 buildings at Camp Lejeune, Marine Corps Air Station New River, and Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point caused by the storm and catastrophic flooding in its aftermath.

And while they have torn down soggy, moldy walls, put tarps on roofs and moved Marines into trailers, so far they have not received a penny from the federal government to fix the damage.

Now the Marine Corps’ top officer is warning that readiness at Camp Lejeune — home to one third of the Corps’ total combat power — is degraded and “will continue to degrade given current conditions.”

In a recent memo to Navy Secretary Richard Spencer, Commandant Gen. Robert Neller cited, among other “negative factors,” the diversion of resources to the border, where the Trump administration has sent active-duty troops to patrol and plans to use military funding to pay for a wall.

In a statement to NBC News, Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., said it is “unacceptable” that “Camp Lejeune and other North Carolina military bases are still waiting on disaster relief we first requested last fall.”

Burr’s fellow North Carolina Republican, Sen. Thom Tillis, agreed, telling NBC News in a written statement that “Camp Lejeune suffered significant damage from Hurricane Florence and Senators Tillis and Burr are working with Congressional appropriators to secure additional federal relief to ensure training and readiness will not be impacted in the long-term and the base can make a complete recovery.”

At Camp Lejeune’s Second Marine Expeditionary Force headquarters, roughly half the structures received significant structural damage and most of the roofs were blown off. They are still covered with blue tarps. Second MEF — or II MEF, as it is usually known — is one of three MEFS around the world, and represents a third of the Corps ready combat strength.

https://climatecrocks.com/2019/03/30/climate-...more-55334
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