Meteor breaks through Georgia home's roof after fireball is spotted in broad daylight

A meteor was seen streaking through the sky in broad daylight over the southeastern United States on Thursday. The fireball has been confirmed to be a meteor, with reports suggesting that it damaged a house in the McDonough area of Georgia. Officials in Henry County are investigating whether the meteor crashed through a house. The National Weather Service said the object lit up the sky like lightning and was visible in southern parts of Atlanta, north Georgia and parts of North Carolina and South Carolina. The meteor made an appearance around 12 pm. Minutes later, people reported that the ground around them started shaking. The NWS officials confirmed that it was not an earthquake but a sonic boom. Social media was flooded with reports of the meteor sighting, as people registered disbelief about what they saw in the sky.

Meanwhile, in the McDonough area of Georgia, a house is reported to have been damaged by the meteor, although it is yet to be confirmed. Emergency Management officials said that a resident reported that a rock had fallen through his roof at about the same time the meteor streaked through the sky. It said that the rock tore through the roof and its speed cracked the laminate flooring inside the house, Fox5 Atlanta reported.

Unusual damage to a McDonough home likely from meteor

The Henry County Emergency Management Agency director said that there was unusual damage to the home in McDonough, although he could not confirm it was from a meteor. “It pierced through the roof all the way through and cracked through the laminate flooring to the concrete,” said Ryan Morrison. “That’s why we think it’s part of this meteor storm.” The owner of the house requested officials not to identify them since they had a child.

Georgia meteor was like a flash of lightning

The National Weather Service said that the altitude and speed of the object prevented it from being tracked by the radar. Satellite imagery also missed it since it updates only every few minutes. However, the Global Lightning Mapper (GLM), meant to detect lightning flashes in the upper atmosphere, registered the event since the meteor created a flash similar to lightning. National Weather Service meteorologists said that, as per radar imagery, the object had distinct signatures typically associated with falling meteorites.

The flash of light was followed by a sonic boom. People reported a shaking similar to an earthquake. However, the US Geological Survey did not observe any earthquake activity in Georgia at the time the boom happened. The fiery object was seen by several people who informed the American Meteor Society about it. According to FOX Weather, it received over 100 reports of a possible fireball. The National Weather Service in Charleston also detected lightning over the NC/VA border, close to Gasburg, Virginia.