Surrounded by more than seven miles of coastline and sitting just 14 feet above sea level at its highest elevation, MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida juts out into Hillsborough Bay like a uvula.
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“Approximately 93% of MacDill AFB is within the 100-year floodplain,” according to a 2022 base resource management plan. “Tropical storms typically flood much of the southern and northwestern portions of MacDill, and all of the base proper would be flooded by a Category 3 or greater hurricane.”
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In the meantime, CENTCOM personnel are working out of several locations, including Raymond James Stadium and Homestead Air Reserve Base near Miami, where the Joint Operations Center will be set up, a U.S. defense official told The War Zone.
SOCOM “dispersed to three different locations,” Col. Alexandra Weiskopf, the command spokesperson, told The War Zone. “With our Washington D.C. office, we will have comms up in four different locations and there will be no degradation to our continuity of operations."
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“Space Launch Delta 45 is monitoring Hurricane Milton and will continue making preparations as weather dictates,” spokeswoman Maggie Nave told us. “Patrick Space Force Base and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station have entered [hurricane preparation] HURCON status, which will be adjusted based on the anticipated timing of storm impacts. At this time, tenant units have moved aircraft assets out of the local area.”
Naval Station Mayport has sent three Arleigh Burke class guided missile destroyers underway, while those vessels unable to leave are being placed on heavy moorings, spokesman David Holmes told us. The station has shut down operations and only essential mission personnel are allowed in.
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The preparations being made for Hurricane Milton are another stark reminder of how climate is affecting the military, especially in locations like Florida prone to these natural disasters
While there are no plans to shutter places like MacDill and Tyndall, the cost to keep them operational in the face of major hurricanes like Milton will only rise.