Mysterious boom shakes Jackson County
Karen Nelson
Sun Herald
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Pascagoula, Mississippi (US):
People here haven't had anything rattle their world much since Katrina.But Friday morning, when "an extremely loud boom" shot through the air, people filed out of businesses to look up, a deputy climbed onto the roof of the courthouse scanning the horizon for plumes and the county civil defense director rushed home from Biloxi.
The boom occurred at about 9:30 a.m. and shook windows of businesses along U.S. 90, trailers near the beach, industry along the river and was heard miles away in Hurley.Investigators and deputies evacuated the office trailers at the courthouse, and Maj. Mike Robichaux climbed on the roof to try and spot any source of the noise.Butch Loper, county civil defense director, tried to work it by phone as he rushed back to Jackson County.
He was flooded with calls. His people contacted the usual suspects, the chemical plants, the refinery and the gas pipeline near Industrial Road. All reported nothing.Signal International, the industry that repairs oil rigs along the Pascagoula River, checked the rigs to make sure nothing had exploded, said one employee.Inside the Northrop Grumman shipyard, a supervisor of shipbuilding employees said it sounded like someone had fallen off the roof.
Too loud to be a transformer and too widespread to be a train, it was heard along Martin Bluff Road in Gautier.Some people reported a second boom; others reported a sulfur smell.
Apr 08, 2006
Karen Nelson
Sun Herald
________
Pascagoula, Mississippi (US):
People here haven't had anything rattle their world much since Katrina.But Friday morning, when "an extremely loud boom" shot through the air, people filed out of businesses to look up, a deputy climbed onto the roof of the courthouse scanning the horizon for plumes and the county civil defense director rushed home from Biloxi.
The boom occurred at about 9:30 a.m. and shook windows of businesses along U.S. 90, trailers near the beach, industry along the river and was heard miles away in Hurley.Investigators and deputies evacuated the office trailers at the courthouse, and Maj. Mike Robichaux climbed on the roof to try and spot any source of the noise.Butch Loper, county civil defense director, tried to work it by phone as he rushed back to Jackson County.
He was flooded with calls. His people contacted the usual suspects, the chemical plants, the refinery and the gas pipeline near Industrial Road. All reported nothing.Signal International, the industry that repairs oil rigs along the Pascagoula River, checked the rigs to make sure nothing had exploded, said one employee.Inside the Northrop Grumman shipyard, a supervisor of shipbuilding employees said it sounded like someone had fallen off the roof.
Too loud to be a transformer and too widespread to be a train, it was heard along Martin Bluff Road in Gautier.Some people reported a second boom; others reported a sulfur smell.
Apr 08, 2006
