AccuWeather's Bill Waddell talks about how Tyndall AFB, Panama City Beach and Mexico Beach are rebuilding stronger after Hurricane Michael's 2018, aiming for resilience against future storms like Helene.
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00:00Now one place where you can still see a lot of scars and a lot of memories from Hurricane Michael
00:06is over at Tyndall Air Force Base between Panama City Beach and Mexico Beach.
00:10They are rebuilding to be stronger and more resilient after that Category 5
00:14hurricane destroyed hundreds of hangars and facilities back in 2018.
00:20So we built the construction to go along with a lot of that whether it's the windows or just
00:26the physical steel and reinforced concrete construction to withstand some of these larger
00:30storms. So most of our facilities are either that 165, 175 range as far as wind speeds.
00:37So yeah a lot of our construction that we're doing now is going to be much more resilient
00:40to these storms and provide a lot more safety for the folks here on Tyndall Air Force Base.
00:47Looking back at this video from 2018 brings back a lot of heartache for people here along the Gulf
00:52Coast. There has been a lot of progress since Michael. Millions of dollars in investments poured
00:57in but there is still a lot of work to be done. And the five billion dollar rebuild project at
01:02Tyndall should be complete by next summer. Helene of course is expected to delay some of the
01:08construction work but officials there at Tyndall Air Force Base are hoping that it will be temporary
01:13that they won't be dealing with substantial damage but again they could be dealing with
01:18more setbacks. And Ari I threw on the jacket I know it looks pretty here from this angle we've
01:23got the sun coming through the clouds but here in Apalachicola we have some storms popping up to my
01:28uh to my other side. I'm actually hearing a rumbles of thunder just check the radar and
01:33that's one of the things people are going to be dealing with here along the Gulf Coast. There's
01:36sandbag distributions. This is the time that people are going to be boarding up, getting prepared,
01:42getting ready for the storm and here in Apalachicola we're going to be dealing with
01:45some rain and some storms here in a little bit. Yeah even out ahead of the main impacts from
01:50Helene. Yes some very attention to detail. Bill I saw that you threw on the jacket but just
01:54excellent information and all the angles you're able to cover for us there
01:57being in Apalachicola. So we appreciate you reporting live for us.