375th CES helps Little Rock AFB after twister Published May 26, 2011 By Airman 1st Class Jacob Eckhardt 375th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. -- At 8 p.m., April 25, an F2 tornado hit Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark., leaving a five-mile path of destruction that was approximately 1,000 feet wide. Little Rock then sent out a request for help. Air Mobility Command at Scott answered their request April 27 by sending 10 Airmen from the 375th Civil Engineer Squadron to help with the tornado relief. The Airmen arrived April 29, two days later due to the flooding from the storm. Master Sgt. Todd Davis, the tornado relief team lead from the 375th Civil Engineer Squadron, said he was told that the cost in damages to the base was more than $60 million--not including base housing, which was repaired by private contractors. "A lot of the flightline facilities were completely damaged," said Sergeant Davis. "There was literally a toilet and shopping carts on top of the BX and about 30 cars flipped over and destroyed in the Exchange parking lot." There were about 55 facilities affected by the tornado including the flightline facilities, Exchange, fire department, base skate park, youth center and more than 100 base houses. "We were primarily focused on rebuilding the flightline," said Tech Sgt. Alexander Smith, the tornado relief electrical lead from the 375th CES. Sergeant Davis added, "We were there to clean up any debris and safety hazards and help restore power." In addition to all the destruction, the only maintenance vehicle the base had at the time was not in working condition. "None of their trucks were operational," said Sergeant Smith. "They couldn't set poles, they couldn't lift poles, they couldn't lift transformers, and they couldn't lift lines. If we hadn't of come it would have been weeks before they got power back up." After long 12-hour days of cleaning, repairing and rebuilding, the base regained power. "We restored one hundred percent of the power within one week," said Sergeant Davis. "The base looked normal except for all the destroyed cars we had in one parking lot." Sergeant Smith said, "Our mission is to support, fix things and help people, whether it's in the desert or another base whenever we can help out."