Two mobile homes in a Palm Beach County trailer park came within feet of being obliterated when a private jet crashed into the street outside on Sunday.
asserted
jet → come → Sunday
The homes survived.
asserted
homes → survive → ?
Their neighbors still can’t go home.
asserted
neighbors → go → ?
The Learjet 60, carrying nine people from Austin to the Bahamas, tore into Military Trail near Cresthaven Boulevard in Greenacres shortly before 1 p.m., gouging a crater into the pavement and torching the roadway.
asserted
Learjet → carry → roadway
Everyone on board was killed.
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Everyone → kill → board
Next door sits the Green Acres mobile home community at 3033 South Military Trail, where a pair of units closest to the impact zone, Lots 3 and 5, stand just steps from the blast.
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pair → sit → blast
Neither was struck head-on.
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Neither → strike → ?
“None of the homes were directly impacted other than debris,” Palm Beach County Commissioner Joel Flores, whose District 3 includes the park, told The Post, likening it to a “miracle” that no one else was impacted.
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one → impact → miracle
Flores walked the scene himself and saw wreckage piled on the roofs of the nearest trailers.
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Flores → walk → trailers
“I was on the site, and all I could see was debris on them.
uncertain
I → see → them
I don’t know if anything penetrated the structure itself, but there was debris there on the rooftops,” he said.
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he → know → rooftops
The jet struck nothing but asphalt and sidewalk, he added, with no cars passing at the moment of impact.
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cars → strike → impact
One driver who had just cleared the area walked away with deployed airbags and minor treatment.
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who → clear → airbags
Anthony Blackmon, who lives roughly 500 feet from the crash site, told NBC Miami that debris slammed into his home.
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debris → live → home
The near miss did little for the park’s residents, who were cleared out wholesale on Sunday and bused to a shelter at the Greenacres Community Center.
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who → do → Center
“We estimate that it’s anywhere between 400 to 600 individuals, we don’t have a precise number,” Flores said.
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Flores → estimate → number
The American Red Cross set up cots and blankets, and the county trucked in portable showers.
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county → set → showers
By Monday, Flores said, “there’s approximately 40 that are remaining,” with most evacuees bunking with friends or family.
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evacuees → say → friends
Investigators are combing a half-mile debris field for evidence and remains, and nothing moves until they’re done.
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they → comb → evidence
“There’s pieces of the body parts everywhere,” Stephanie, a representative for the park’s management office, told The Post.
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Stephanie → ’ → Post
“Unfortunately, what we don’t know is when they’re going to be able to get back into their homes, because it’s still a scene, an accident scene or a crime scene, and they’re combing through all the evidence and body remains,” Flores added.
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Flores → know → evidence
Residents fled with little more than the clothes on their backs, and many ran outside to gawk at the wreckage only to be locked out of their own street.
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many → flee → street
“They’re not able to grab their belongings.
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They → ’re → belongings
They’re not able to move their vehicles,” Flores said, recalling his Monday morning visit to the shelter.
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Flores → ’re → shelter
“And a lot of them were asking, ‘Hey, what’s going to happen?
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what → ask → them
I need to go to work.
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I → need → work
I need to be able to grab my work truck’ or whatever it may be.”
uncertain
it → need → truck
Mother Nature isn’t helping.
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Nature → help → ?
Crews spent Monday pumping water out of the crater to reach what’s left of the jet, fighting a deluge that Flores said had been pounding the area “nonstop for the last probably 48 hours.”
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Flores → spend → hours
The impact also ruptured a water main, which he suspects helped smother the burning fuel.
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he → rupture → fuel
Green Acres pitches itself online as an affordable, tidy manufactured home community close to shops and schools.
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Acres → pitch → shops
Flores said it’s a mix of owner-occupants and renters spread across roughly 75 homes.
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it → say → homes
“It’s probably been there closer to 50 years,” he said.
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he → say → ?
As for damage, management says it has none to report so far.
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it → say → none
County Administrator Joe Abruzzo has asked Gov. Ron DeSantis for an emergency declaration that would unlock funding for displaced residents and nearby businesses, warning the area could stay closed for an extended stretch.
uncertain
area → ask → stretch
Flores said the county is weighing hotel vouchers and temporary housing.
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county → say → vouchers
DeSantis, who toured the scene Sunday, called the crash “cataclysmic.”
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who → tour → crash
Federal investigators are probing whether the jet began breaking apart midair after its crew reported icing while flying into a fast-building thunderstorm.
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crew → probe → thunderstorm
Flores, a military veteran, said the scene was familiar to him but not to his constituents.
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scene → say → constituents
I’ve seen things like this happen before, but I know those community members probably have never gone through anything like this,” he said.
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he → see → this
…and 4 more, not listed.
The Aporia
