Loud noise causes panic in Fort Myers neighborhood

Reporter: Olivia Jean
Published: Updated:

A tornado? Are we being attacked? Did an airplane just crash into my yard?

Those are just some of the thoughts neighbors had when they heard a loud noise on Wednesday morning lasting several minutes.

A Florida Power and Light power plant began testing equipment around 7:30 a.m., with noises heard several miles away.

The power plant is off of Palm Beach Boulevard and right across from Manatee Park.

Neighbors say they were scared and confused, which is why numerous of them reached out to WINK News this morning. They wanted to find out what was going on, and on Wednesday, we did some investigating.

Some neighbors told WINK News it was the loudest noise they had ever heard.

“The noise was horrendous. Horrendous,” Sherry Fredrickson said.

Sherry lives two and a half miles away from the power plant.

“It was so loud and very disturbing. I ran outside, and I didn’t see anything. So, I went back in a few minutes later. Another one. Same thing,” Fredrickson said. “And I thought they’ve changed the flight pattern, I thought it was landing on my roof.”

What Fredrickson thought to be a big plane on her roof turned out to be just the power plant doing “required maintenance and testing.”

WINK News asked Florida Power and Light why they didn’t warn neighbors first. An FPL spokesperson attempted to answer that.

“This required maintenance sometimes leads to noises being heard. Unplanned noises being heard while we’re testing equipment,” Bill Orlove said, “but I can assure customers that there are no issues at the plant,”

Neighbors wondered why they got no warning.

“Would’ve been nice to been warned. But oh, well,” Fredrickson said.

WINK pressed Florida Power and Light on this issue. They again stated the noises were unplanned, which is why there was no notification.

Florida Power and Light told WINK News they apologize to all those impacted Wednesday morning. They did not say if they will start to notify customers in the future when any testing is taking place.

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