"It had to be coming down with force to come through the roof,” Houston resident Sherri James said
Credit: FOX 26 Houston/YouTube; Ponderosa Fire Department
NEED TO KNOW
- On Saturday, March 21, a possible meteorite crashed through Sherrie James’ roof in northwest Harris County, leaving a hole and damaging two stories
- NASA confirmed the 3-foot meteor fragment weighed about a ton and traveled at 35,000 mph before breaking apart
- Witnesses reported hearing an explosion and a flash of light from the meteorite in the Houston area on Saturday
A Houston resident was left stunned after a meteorite crashed through the roof of her home.
Sherrie James was shocked to discover that a heavy rock had crashed through the roof and two stories of her home in northwest Harris County on Saturday, March 21, after seemingly falling from the sky, Fox 26 Houston reported.
The crash occurred after reports of a sound like an “explosion” and sightings of “a possible meteor” near Highway 50 at Wiedeville Road and surrounding areas, the Brenham Fire Department (BFD) wrote on Facebook.
“[When] I saw the rock … the first thing that came to my mind was, it's a meteor,” James told Fox 26 Houston. “It's very heavy and it doesn't look like cement or like a normal rock, but it's just the weight of it — you can tell it's something different.”
Ponderosa Fire Chief Fred Windisch said that a rock that "appears to be a meteorite" crashed through James’ house and landed in the kitchen, per Fox 26 Houston.
The Ponderosa Fire Department confirmed to PEOPLE that a piece of what appeared to be a meteorite crashed through James' home, adding that the "explosion" sound was most likely "the sound barrier shock wave."
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NASA confirmed that a 3-foot meteor fragment hit northwestern Houston on Saturday.
“Eyewitnesses in Texas observed a bright fireball today, March 21, at 4:40 p.m. CDT. Current data indicates that the meteor became visible at 49 miles above Stagecoach,” NASA wrote on X. “It moved southeast at 35,000 mph, breaking apart 29 miles above Bammel, just west of Cypress Station.”
The meteorite, which weighed an estimated ton, “created a pressure wave that caused booms heard by some in the area,” NASA explained. Meteorites were also produced between Willowbrook and Northgate Crossing in Texas.
The BFD responded to reports on Saturday from several witnesses of an “explosion” and the meteor sighting, saying they “saw a green flash fall from the sky, black smoke, and heard a loud boom.” They found no evidence of an explosion.
In footage released by KHOU, captured by a witness driving in Southeast Texas on Saturday, an object can be seen from the driver's dashboard falling from the sky and bursting into flash of light.
“I saw a hole in the ceiling, the impact on the floor, and so it had to be coming down with force to come through the roof,” James told Fox 26 Houston.
James said that she called the Ponderosa Fire Department, who initially told her they thought the rock was something that “fell off a plane.” They later told her that the rock was most likely a fragment from a meteor that “exploded” over northern Houston.
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