“Booms” being heard in region, officials talk with state authorities

GREENE/CRAIGHEAD COUNTIES, Ark. (KAIT) - Loud booms have been the talk of social media this week in Region 8.

An area emergency official spoke about the issue with state authorities Monday.

“The National Guard very quickly came on the line and said it’s impossible for these explosions to be attributed to them,” Greene County Office of Emergency Management Coordinator Erik Wright said.

Every morning, he and others join the Arkansas Joint Information Center call. The National Guard added there were no live-fire artillery exercises or military operations in Northeast Arkansas.

“There is no aircraft that fly over our region that has the ability to create a sonic boom,” Wright added.

Craighead County OEM Director Anthony Coy said they’ve heard the booms like everyone else and understand how unnerving the sound may be.

“We’re as curious as they are as to where they’re coming from and what they are,” he said.

Wright and Coy had differing opinions regarding earthquakes when speaking to Region 8 News.

“We can rule out earthquakes very quickly based upon the timing of reports. We immediately get on a number of websites and determine if there’s been seismic activity,” Wright said.

“I don’t know enough about it to say that I don’t think it’s an earthquake but the evidence just doesn’t lead me that way at this point,” Coy said.

They both mentioned it may be landowners blowing up beaver dams.

“I think the unofficial theory is without people laying eyes on it is probably people blowing beaver dams or shooting explosive targets,” Wright said.

“It can be a whole litany of things,” Coy said. “Anything from a landowner getting rid of a beaver dam or some sort of a manmade dam because we are finishing duck season.”

Coy said depending on the atmosphere and weather, the explosions can be heard for miles.

“When these instances are happening, there’s no guarantee that they’re happening here,” he said. “It may be an authority several counties away or in another state that needs to figure out what it is.”

Neither Greene nor Craighead Counties have any damage reported.

The most recent “Booms” happened around 9 p.m. Friday, Jan. 29, with social media reports of the booms heard in Craighead and Greene counties.

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