Parts of Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C., were shaken by a sonic boom Sunday afternoon after the U.S. Department of Defense authorized a flight out of Joint Base Andrews, officials said.
The sound of a huge boom was heard across the area as local authorities received multiple concerning reports from residents. Officials in Bowie, Maryland, and the Annapolis Office of Emergency Management in Maryland said the sound was from a sonic boom from an aircraft flight, with the former reporting that the plane was from Joint Base Andrews.
“The loud boom that was heard across the DMV area was caused by an authorized DOD flight. This flight caused a sonic boom,” the Annapolis Office of Emergency Management said on Twitter. “That is all the information available at this time.”
The D.C. Homeland Security and Emergency Management said they were aware of reports from community members throughout the National Capital Region and that there “is no threat at this time.”
People flooded social media with posts speculating the source of the ground-shaking sound, with several users reporting the boom shook their homes and rattled their windows.
One user said they “thought a truck hit my house.” Others speculated that it was a massive explosion or earthquake.
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