BILOXI, Miss. — Keesler Air Force Base, a major training and medical center for the military, needs $500 million in repairs to recover from Hurricane Katrina, a commander said Saturday.

Brig. Gen. Bill Lord, wing commander of the 81st Training Wing, said the base suffered $400 million in damage to the military complex and $100 million to housing, but there were no fatalities.

Keesler, which sits between the Gulf of Mexico and the Back Bay of Biloxi, was one of six military bases in Louisiana and Mississippi to suffer damage during Katrina. The hurricane hit Aug. 29, three days after the federal Base Realignment and Closure Commission voted to keep Keesler's medical center intact.

The medical center, second largest in the Air Force, suffered extensive damage from Katrina's flooding and has been shut down.

"It just rolled right on up. We got five feet of water all through the basement," said Brig. Gen. Jim Dougherty of the 81st Medical Group.

The hospital normally would serve 1,200 people per day, but the flooding damaged MRI equipment and emergency rooms and ruined $6 million worth of drugs and equipment in the pharmacy. Dougherty predicted it will take six months to repair. In the meantime, emergency services are being provided in tents in the parking lot.

Normally, 16,000 people would be working at Keesler, including many men and women getting specialized training after finishing basic training. Instead, about 400 stayed on the base to help with cleanup.

Relief agencies are using the base as a staging area to get relief supplies to surrounding areas. Lord said the base has supplied more than 57,000 bottles of water and 100,000 Meals Ready to Eat, and its physicians and chaplains are serving in surrounding areas, helping military and civilians.

"We're pushing. Even if they don't ask for it, we're sending it out there," he said.

On the Net:

http://www.keesler.af.mil/