US airmen at RAF Fairford are now cleaning up after monsoon-like downpours in England in the last week caused about $200,000 worth of flood damage to the base’s facilities. The estimate includes 10 facilities and eight housing units as well as minor flood damage to RAF Welford, reports Stars and Stripes. Had base personnel not used sandbags and barriers to divert the heavy rainfall on July 20, nearly every house in Fairford’s 84-unit housing area could have flooded.
The U.S. supports “a stronger and more capable” European defense, Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said during an Oct. 22 press conference in Brussels—but that defense should not duplicate the functions and capabilities of the NATO alliance.