Then a little more than 100 miles away from there, 100,000 drum fish washed up along the Arkansas River.
Some residents were unnerved.
"I thought the mayor was messing with me when he called me," said Milton McCullar of the Beebe Street Department. "He got me up at 4 a.m. saying we had birds falling out of the sky."
Scientists have offered up some explanations for the deaths.
They say disease is likely to blame for the fish dying.
As for the birds, they say hail, lightning or even fireworks could be to blame.