‘Debris hit my house. Everything was on fire': Residents describe Palm Beach jet crash

A Palm Beach neighborhood is shaken up Sunday after a Learjet 60 nose-dived into a road in Greenacres. Nine people on board the plane were killed in the crash.

Video from the scene showed a huge hole in the ground. Nearby resident Anthony Blackmon said he was about 500 feet from the crash and described the experience as terrifying.

“Debris was everywhere. Debris hit my house. Everything was on fire. The road was on fire,” Blackmon said.

“I’ve always seen it on the news, never thought it would happen so close to somebody like how it happened today,” Blackman added.

Another nearby resident Roger Forcelle said he felt the aircraft pass over his home shortly before the crash.

“It shook the whole house. It went right over us and crashed probably less than half a mile from where I live,” Forcelle said. “Everybody came out of their houses because you could feel it shaking.”

He said he later saw a cloud of smoke rising from the area and was unable to return home after leaving to run errands.

Another person who saw the aftermath said it ‘looked like a meteor hit the ground’.

The crash also displaced hundreds of people near a mobile home park.

District 3 Commissioner Joel Flores said officials were working to ensure about 600 people affected by the crash had a safe place to stay Sunday night.

“So we have about 600 people that we have to make sure that they have shelter tonight,” Flores said.

Flores said the Red Cross was standing by to provide additional services to those affected. He said officials’ immediate concern was making sure residents had somewhere safe to stay.