Pendleton Repairs Could Cost Over $100 Million

CAMP PENDLETON — Estimates of the damage from last month’s flooding here are still fluctuating, but a spokesman Friday said that repairing the damage to roads, bridges, wells and the airfield could end up costing more than $100 million.

“And that assessment can go lower or higher,” Lt. Kevin Bentley said.

Earlier estimates of $72 million only covered much of the damage to the base; they excluded another $15 million in damage to the airfield, helicopters and structures. Although these operations are situated at Camp Pendleton, they are run by the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

Bentley said 10 different military units, such as the Navy and other Marine units, have some type of operation within the sprawling 125,000-acre Camp Pendleton base.

“If you ask for the estimate on the base alone, it’s around $70 million. If you ask estimates on the airfield, it’s an additional $15 million. Now, with the 10 other organizations, you can see that all damage on the compound is going to be somewhere close to the $100-million figure,” Bentley said.

Observers who have visited the base since Jan. 16, when a levee burst, sending a six-foot wall of water onto the airfield, have reported “unbelievable” destruction.

The flooding knocked out water and power to the base. Basilone Bridge, on a major north-south artery that connected the main base to Camp Margarita, “was wiped out,” Bentley said. Marines have since been forced to exit the camp, head north on Interstate 5 and re-enter the base at Las Pulgas Road, then drive to reach Camp Margarita.

“We saw buildings move a half mile away,” Bentley said, “cars upside down; railroad tracks were left spanning gaps, and beneath the gaps there was no more earth, only air under the tracks.”

Gen. Walter E. Boomer, assistant commandant of the Marine Corps who toured the base Jan. 21, said the restoration will be time-consuming.

The air station is part of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, which is commanded at El Toro.

An El Toro spokesman, Lt. Brad Bartelt, said the estimate for airfield damage has now risen to $55 million from the initial $15 million.

“A new rough estimate is now $55 million because we’re going to have to pull apart the aircraft checking for damage to avionics such as navigational equipment,” Bartelt said. “Presently, they’re checking the runways and taxi-ways for erosion caused by flooding and mud.”

Bartelt said the flood damaged 47 of the 71 aircraft at the air station. Included are such expensive craft as UH-1 Huey helicopters; OV-10 Broncos, which are fixed-wing observation airplanes, and AH-1 Cobras, attack helicopters that cost $10.5 million each.

Marine officials said there was not enough time to move the aircraft to higher ground. After the storms, the aircraft were found loaded with mud and debris. The avionics repair vans used to repair the helicopters were found all over the airfield half-filled with mud, Bartelt said.

Even power switches beneath the aircraft were soaked and had to be cleaned with a mixture of water and alcohol, he said, then protected with a lubricant.

“The cleanup is still going on,” Bartelt said. “There is so much mud there, it’s unbelievable.”

Base spokesmen have estimated that repairs will take at least a year.

The historic ranch house that is home to Lt. Gen. Robert Johnston, commander of the allied troops in Somalia, was not damaged, but the chapel next to it was.

Two of the chapel’s walls, which were adobe, were washed out, said Kathie Graler, historian for Camp Pendleton. Not all damage can be measured in dollars, she said. Most of the chapel’s interior dates to 1943, but the majority of the site, including its foundation and walls, were built in 1810.

“It was one of the out structures for Mission San Luis Rey, put here way before the government took over the property and built Camp Pendleton,” Graler said.

Because of the lengthy restoration approval process, “not to mention that right now we don’t have the funding,” reconstruction may take a long time, she said. Repairs could cost $500,000, she said.

An Episcopalian church used the chapel for services, and it was the most popular wedding site with Marines, she said.