Friday, April 18, 2008

Earthquake This Morning (Tennessee)

About 4:40 am, I was awoken by the sound of my housing shaking. It was almost like the same type of sound from a very strong wind gust. As I became more awake, I knew it was an earthquake. Our light on our ceiling fan rattled as well.

When I woke our teenaged daughter up, she had felt it as well. Said it woke her up and she though someone was in her room. She quickly turned her lights on, saw that no one was in her room, but still felt the shaking...couldn't have lasted more than 15-20 seconds.

Did you feel the quake? Report it here at the USGS website.

The USGS Official Report for all quakes today is here

Louisville, KY and Evansville, TN have damage being reported. The quake was felt all the way to Milwaukee in the north and to Atlanta in south. Right now, we understand it is a 5.4 magnitude. The epicenter is part of the New Madrid fault. The tremor was also felt in Chicago.

Breitbart has a good story about the quake, too.

10:15 am UPDATE......another quake has struck virtually in the same area and has registered a 4.6 on the Richter scale. What does this mean? I don't really know.

8:45 am UPDATE...found out today is the 102nd anniversary of the great San Francisco earthquake...also, West Tennessee area has planned an earthquake drill for today...has been in planning stages for a year (thanks to Jeff Ray, meteorologist at WKRN-News2)

6:46 am UPDATE...quake downgraded to a 5.2 magnitude and was MUCH deeper than first thought....third earthquake in Tennessee region this week...hmmmm....is a much larger one looming for the New Madrid fault.....the answer (long-term) is yes.

Back to the Weather:
Our lastest, local forecast

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ohh.. I heard about it in the news and also visited your source links.. So how's the condition there so far? Is there anyone hurt or something?

Thanks for the update...

Michael Detwiler said...

No one hurt here...no damage that I'm aware of in Middle Tennessee. Appears to be confined to the area around the Ohio River between Louisville, KY and Evansville, IN.

Jeff B said...

I definitely felt it and it woke me up. It seemed like it lasted several minutes, but that is probably because it was 4am and I was sleeping pretty soundly before. I first heard my coke sign rattling well before I actually felt any trembling, and the rattling last well beyond the actual tremors felt. I would estimate that total rattling time was 30-45 seconds.

Michael Detwiler said...

Hey Jeffery:

Where are you located?

~Michael

Jeff B said...

I live just outside of the Cookeville city limits in East Lake Estates.

Michael Detwiler said...

Jeffery...used to live in Eastlake also! Enjoyed having the VIEW (as I was at the top of the neighborhood)...it is one thing I miss....

Anonymous said...

Glad that there was no significant damage. Got the alert via my USGS subscription this morning & knew that anything in the mag 5+ range would probably be felt pretty far away. Here's hoping that it was just an anomaly and that the New Madrid will lapse back into slumber for a long while.

Anonymous said...

I also felt it in Cookeville, and I orginally thought it was a huge storm that came over before i realized my window was open and it was extremely quiet outside. It didn't last very long but it was enough to make my house pop and creek. I almost thought i felt one this morning too, around 8 or 9 but it was only a couple of seconds.

Anonymous said...

I thought it was a heliocopter passing over because I hear them quite often. Went outside, no heliocopter in sight.

Happened to be awake and things shook here for about 60 seconds. My front and back door shook, glass panes in the doors shook and watched the ceiling fan blades do a little dance of sorts. Since it lasted so long, I figured it was a tiny earthquake. I live on Garrett Avenue here in Cookeville. Thought it was pretty cool actually! Reported it to the URL you had listed.

Michael Detwiler said...

I think there are, literally, tens of thousands of these stories about the quake..really an amazing event.

Anonymous said...

Love your web site. Am from out of state, but just closed on a house in Cookeville this week. Am going to call my insurance company tomorrow and add earthquake insurance to the policy. Anyone know if there was any damage in the Cookeville region caused by the early 1800's New Madrid quake? Have a great and warm weekend, folks!

Michael Detwiler said...

As large as the 1811 New Madrid quake was, I have no doubt we probably felt it in the Cookeville area. I've never done any research into possible damage or writings in this area on that particular event. It did form what it now known as Reelfoot Lake in West Tennessee.

Anonymous said...

Woke my wife up this morning. I slept right through it. (Knoxville)

Anonymous said...

I didn't feel the first one but around 11am near Algood, TN, my house was shaken very well. No damage but very scary.

Anonymous said...

Definitely felt a quake around 11am this morning near Algood, TN. Strong shaking lasted less than a minute but blinds and lampshades shook a few seconds longer.

Michael Detwiler said...

Anonymous.... this post that you commented on was from April 2008.I wrote about today's quake with the title "Did You Feel It"....

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