[meteorite-list] Sonic Boom in Texas?

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed Dec 14 16:07:40 2005
Message-ID: <200512142102.jBEL2AD19327_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://thefacts.com/story.lasso?ewcd=8da65393ae1e730b

Cause of Surfside vibration unknown
By Bridie Isensee
The Facts (Texas)
December 14, 2005

Residents in Surfside Beach and Freeport felt buildings shake early
Tuesday morning, but officials in both cities speculated the noise came
from military aircraft rather than an event from area chemical plants.

Surfside Beach police received about seven calls Tuesday morning after
the boom happened about 9:15 a.m., Surfside Police Chief Randy Smith
said. The vibrations shook City Hall, causing Smith to think
construction workers next door ran into the building, he said.

"I was sitting inside and it felt like an extremely large thundercloud,"
Smith said.

Residents of Oyster Creek and the west side of Freeport also called
reporting the vibrations, Freeport Fire Chief John Stanford said.

The Brazosport Industrial Community Awareness and Emergency Response
program, otherwise known as CAER, received no reports Tuesday morning of
any chemical industry events, CAER spokesman Dave Winder said in an
e-mail. Six people called the hotline starting about 9:30 a.m. to report
the incident, but a CAER emergency responder could not find the cause,
he said.

Stanford speculated the vibration might have been a sonic boom, when a
jet aircraft breaks the sound barrier.

The U.S. Coast Guard station in Surfside Beach had no information about
a possible overfly of military aircraft Tuesday morning, Petty Officer
Third Class Josh Hollyfield said.

The station doesn't typically receive that kind of information, he said.
Received on Wed 14 Dec 2005 04:02:06 PM PST