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Earlier this month, we brought you the story of a data center in the sleepy Michigan town of Dowagiac. Beset by the 30 megawatt tech facility, residents in the otherwise quiet burg were forced to live under the relentless screech of a massive cooling operation, prompting a lawsuit over excessive noise.
At the time, footage from a TikTok video — showing volume readings reaching 60 decibels in one resident’s front yard — captured a portion of the noise, a horrible whine emitted by the data center 24/7.
Now, fresh audio recorded by ABC7‘s apparently more sensitive noise equipment demonstrates the full extent of the screech, which you really have to hear with your own ears to believe:
Neighbors say noise from Michigan data center is 24/7 and upending their lives
Asked to put the noise into words, one resident told ABC7 it “sounds like someone set up a vacuum, like in your living room… and they just left it on and walked out.”
One Michigander named Billy Finn compared it to Hollywood-style torture scenes.
“You’ve seen movies and stuff where they have somebody in a cell, torturing them with sound,” Finn said, “and that’s basically what it is.”
While some would no doubt leave after the first week of dealing with the horrible screeching sound, Billy Finn’s wife Marjorie says it isn’t that simple. They’ve built their whole lives around that house, which has been in the family for generations.
“I love this house because it has so much feel of my past,” Marjorie told ABC7. “All our friends are here, all our support system’s here… it’s just amazing how it’s changed our lives.”
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