U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Anthony Tressel, radio frequency transmission technician with the 628th Communications Squadron, inspects a ultra high frequency (UHF) antenna for wind damage caused by Hurricane Matthew on Joint Base Charleston, S.C., Oct. 10, 2016. (Sean Carnes/U.S. Air Force)
U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Anthony Tressel, radio frequency transmission technician with the 628th Communications Squadron, inspects a ultra high frequency (UHF) antenna for wind damage caused by Hurricane Matthew on Joint Base Charleston, S.C., Oct. 10, 2016. (Sean Carnes/U.S. Air Force)
Airmen from the 116th Air Control Wing, Georgia Air National Guard, clear a tree out of a roadway during road-clearing operations in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew, in Savannah, Ga., Oct. 10, 2016. The Airmen deployed to Savannah to support civil authorities working along side the Chatham County Public Works department. (Roger Parsons/Air National Guard)
A crew of airmen from the 4th Equipment Maintenance Squadron munitions flight drive onto the flightline, through flood waters caused by Hurricane Matthew, on Oct. 11, 2016 at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in North Carolina. (Brittain Crolley/U.S. Air Force)
An F-15E Strike Eagle from the 336th Fighter Squadron lands on the runway, Oct. 11, 2016, at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina. More than 40 Strike Eagles were sent to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana ahead of Hurricane Matthew to avoid potential damage from severe weather associated with the storm. (Brittain Crolley/U.S. Air Force)
Students from the Naval Nuclear Power Training Command return to Joint Base Charleston - Naval Weapons Station, S.C. on Oct. 10, 2016, after Hurricane Matthew swept through the Lowcountry. More than 700 students evacuated to Fort Jackson, S.C. prior to the storm. (Nicholas Byers/U.S. Air Force)
Water floods Slocumb Gate during Hurricane Matthew on Oct. 9, 2016 at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina. (Ashley Williamson/U.S. Air Force)
U.S. Air Force civil engineers with the 628th Civil Engineer Squadron tear down broken tree limbs on Joint Base Charleston, S.C., Oct. 9, 2016. Disaster response coordinators were sent to assess Hurricane Matthew damage. (1st Combat Camera Squadron)
WASHINGTON – Normal operations were resuming at military bases along the East Coast of the United States on Tuesday, and officials reported little major damage on posts impacted by Hurricane Matthew, which flooded parts of the region and killed at least 26 in five states.
The storm that pounded the East Coast from south Florida through southeast Virginia caused flooding and wind damage at several posts from Patrick Air Force Base in Florida to Fort Bragg in North Carolina. However, military officials said there had been no reports of injuries on any of the more than a dozen military installations hit by the hurricane.
Meanwhile, more than 11,000 troops remained committed to clean up, recover and humanitarian operations in areas impacted by the deadly storm in Haiti and in five U.S. states.
Hurricane Matthew was responsible for more than 500 deaths in the impoverished Caribbean nation of Haiti, and it killed at least 14 people in North Carolina, five in Florida, three each in Georgia and South Carolina and one in Virginia, according to the Associated Press.
The Marine Corps on Tuesday began moving some 6,000 recruits back to Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island in South Carolina, said Capt. Gregory Carroll, a spokesman for the Marines basic training base. The base was largely back to normal by Tuesday morning, and it planned to host a recruit graduation ceremony Friday, he said.
The recruits were moved for their safety in the days before Hurricane Matthew hit South Carolina, though the future Marines were able to continue “limited training” at Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany in Georgia, Carroll said.
At Fort Stewart in coastal Georgia, 3rd Infantry Division soldiers returned to a major training exercise Tuesday, said Kevin Larson, Fort Stewart spokesman. The hurricane downed some trees and caused power outages on the Army post, about 30 miles inland near Savannah, but by Tuesday normal operations had resumed for servicemembers and civilian employees.
Major flooding was expected to last in eastern North Carolina for several days, but officials at Fort Bragg and Camp Lejeune reported Tuesday morning that the storm did not cause serious problems on the posts. Early Tuesday afternoon, officials at the Army and the Marine Corps installations said most servicemembers had returned to duty and the vast majority of functions on the base were operating normally, aside from some minor storm damage and lingering power outages.
Air Force and Navy officials at the Pentagon on Tuesday morning said there were no reports of significant issues at their bases. Air Force planes evacuated from several bases ahead of the storm had returned to bases in Florida, the Carolinas and Virginia by Tuesday, said Erika Yepsen, a spokeswoman for the service.
Meanwhile, about 8,000 National Guard troops remained on duty in Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas and Virginia, said Lynn Kirby, a National Guard Bureau spokeswoman. She said she excepted about 2,000 Guardsmen to be dropped from duty by Wednesday afternoon, mostly from Florida and Georgia.
National Guard troops on Tuesday were continuing to conduct aerial search-and-rescue, swift water rescue, route clearance and debris removal, and infrastructure assessment operations throughout the impacted region, Kirby said.
In Haiti, active-duty troops had delivered more than 90 tons of relief supplies to areas impacted by the storm, said Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman. The U.S. military has sent more than 3,000 servicemembers to aid the humanitarian response there. Two Navy ships and more than 16 aircraft are among the assets sent to the impoverished nation. U.S. military efforts could last several weeks in Haiti, Davis said.
dickstein.corey@stripes.com Twitter: @CDicksteinDC
