Residents in the Kanawha Valley are left with many questions after a sudden boom shook the region Tuesday afternoon.
Around 5:15 p.m., the phone lines lit up at Kanawha County’s Metro 911 with numerous reports of a sudden boom that sounded like a big explosion.
Keith Bennett was working at Spyro’s Parking in downtown Charleston when he heard the loud boom.
“The weather had been saying to expect thunder and I thought maybe it will be thunder but it rattled the building around. Everybody was out on the street taking a look, looking up in the sky,” said Bennett. “We thought perhaps a car or a truck had hit a building.”
Bennett said whatever it was, it was very bizarre and strange.
Sam Cozart was in his downtown apartment when he heard the noise, but he said he didn’t think it was anything big.
“It sounded like a trash truck dropping a dumpster,” said Cozart. “You know, like you would wake up to in the morning.”
He said it’s typical to hear all kinds of noises in downtown, but it did catch his attention.
The Kanawha County Commission was sitting in a meeting as the Board of Tax Appeal Tuesday afternoon when they began getting several calls regarding the noise.
Commissioner Dave Hardy said they stopped the meeting and began making phone calls.
“We checked with Homeland Security, we checked with all the chemical plants, we checked with everything that we know to check and even with seismographic information,” said Hardy. “We’ve come up with nothing.”
Emergency crews also sprung into action checking with several agencies including the National Weather Service and Yeager Airport to see if their were reports of any incidents. Metro 911 also received a report of a blast at Rush Creek Strip Mine in Kanawha County, but that has not been confirmed.
“It wasn’t reported anywhere other than in Kanawha County,” said Hardy. “At this point it’s all speculation but it certainly caught our attention.”
Mining officials were reportedly planning to check out the suspected mine explosion Wednesday morning.