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Military helicopters depart Cuyahoga county airport for evening training exercises.

Military helicopters depart Cuyahoga county airport for evening training exercises. (Joshua Gunter, cleveland.com/TNS)

CLEVELAND (Tribune News Service) — Military helicopters have thundered over Greater Cleveland this week in low-flying formations, startling residents and appearing to shake foundations during training exercises.

The U.S. Department of Defense, with local and federal law enforcement officers, is conducting the training. It notified police in some eastern suburbs of the exercises, as the helicopters have departed from the Cuyahoga County Airport on Curtiss Wright Parkway in Richmond Heights. The exercises began Sunday and are expected to continue through Saturday.

Many East Side residents were unaware the training would be taking place. On different social media platforms, residents around the Greater Cleveland area said the aircrafts flew too low and made too much noise. Some complained that their homes shook.

A resident from University Heights was surprised to have the Browns game on Monday Night Football interrupted when his house abruptly shook.

He said cities should have given residents a proper heads-up. The Willoughby Hills Police Department posted the announcement on its Facebook page Saturday. Euclid warned residents on Friday about the flight activity.

“I think there should have been public notice explaining the reason for this as well as the reason for the low flying aircraft,” the University Heights resident said. “We don’t need a full press conference, but we need an actual written release out to news media for print and TV.”

Another resident who lives in an apartment building on Lee and Chagrin roads in Shaker Heights said she was afraid when she heard the aircraft because it sounded so close to the building.

“I thought the roof was going to come off; they (aircraft) were so low,” the woman said. “It was loud, but it disappeared quickly.”

The exercise was expected to have “minimal impact to the public,” police said.

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