Days After Returning, KC-135s Evacuate MacDill Again for Hurricane (Image Credit: airandspaceforces)
The Air Force evacuated aircraft ahead of another hurricane Oct. 6, just days after trying to get things back to normal. Hurricane Milton, a Category 5 storm, is now forecast to sweep across central Florida on Oct. 9, with MacDill Air Force Base and Patrick Space Force Base directly in its path.
The “large and powerful” storm is expected to carry gale-force winds and a damaging coastal storm surge.
MacDill Air Force Base, in Tampa, evacuated the 6th Air Refueling Wing’s KC-135 tankers just two days after they got home following a prior evacuation for Hurricane Helene. Wing commander Col. Ed Szczepanik ordered the evacuation effective Oct. 7 at 12:30 p.m. In a video update on Facebook, Szczepanik said the base would only retain mission-essential personnel.
Helene flooded MacDill’s low-lying areas, leaving masses of debris on roads and and causing widespread power outages, and many base services were closed for up to five days.
The KC-135 tankers remained mission ready at alternate locations and mission-essential personnel maintained operations at U.S. Central Command headquarters, located on the base.
Milton is on a path to strike MacDill on Florida’s Gulf Coast, then cross the peninsula and hit Florida’s Space Coast, home to Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and Patrick Space Force Base.
Space Launch Delta 45, which oversees both installations, raised its alert level to HURCON 4, which officials said mean anticipated winds in excess of 58 miles per hour could occur within 72 hours. Both bases remain open and no evacuations have been ordered.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral Oct. 7 carrying a payload for the European Space Agency. But a planned Oct. 10 launch of a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket for NASA from the Kennedy Space Center has been postponed.
Indeed, SpaceX had been scheduled to launch several Falcon 9s from Cape Canaveral early next week, but the rocket is grounded while officials investigate an anomaly late last month. SpaceX got FAA clearance for the Oct. 7 launch, but no other launches have been cleared so far, according to media reports.
A spokesperson for Space Launch Delta 45 told Air & Space Forces Magazine there are no currently no rockets on pads or launches scheduled for the rest of the week at Cape Canaveral. The National Hurricane Center is projecting up to 12 inches of rain in the area and a flood warning has been issued.
