Tyndall deploys civil engineers after Typhoon Mawar strikes Guam

PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WJHG/WECP) - Island residents of Guam experienced something similar to Bay County Wednesday.

Typhoon Mawar passed through bringing howling wind and torrential rainfall with it. It was expected to hit land as a category 4. But has been updated to a category five since.

The United States deployed five civil engineers to help assess the cost of the damage to Anderson, the Military base there. They are also expected help build a plan to recover Anderson.

Officials say due to Hurricane Michael, the civil engineers on this base are specially equipped with skills to handle situations like this.

“Our team will be going very early at the specific request of Anderson Air Force Base.” said Col Robert Bartlow, the Chief of Natural Disaster Recovery Division. “Because they have specific expertise at both cost estimating, as well as unique engineering expertise to be able to assess damage and plan projects to recover the instillation.”

Guam isn’t the only base airmen from Tyndall have helped restore. But it might be the most important.

“It’s a very important installation in the western Pacific.” said Bartlow. “It’s the furthest west base on US sovereign territory in the pacific ocean. So it’s highly important to our national defense and the defense of our allies in the region.”

Bartlow went on to say our civil engineers are prepared and trained to handle situations like this with no power. We will continue to keep you informed as more details unfold.

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