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No License Needed As Fish Fall From The Sky In East Texas City

TEXARKANA, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) — As spotty showers cross the Metroplex, there was something other than water falling in one Texas city recently.

Fish (don't refresh your page, that's what I said) were falling from the sky in Texarkana.

A post was sent out on the City of Texarkana Facebook page assuring everyone the news was not a joke.

Texarkana falling fish
(credit: City of Texarkana, Texas)

To minimize the shock and cut down on panic, officials explained that small water animals -- like fish, frogs, and crabs -- can get swept up in waterspouts or drafts and then later fall down from above. The phenomenon is called 'animal rain'.

National Weather Service Meteorologist Gary Chatelian said, "They are picked up with the wind and come down like any debris does. They could have been picked up somewhere like Lake Texoma, [but] they could have come from anywhere. And whatever goes up, must come down."

Officials across the city said they received several lots of calls from people reporting fish falling from the sky.

After 2021 and this event their best advice was, "...please, for the sake of everyone, let's tiptoe into 2022 as quietly as possible."

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