Earthquake in VA 5.8

[SuziQ]

CNN Breaking news banner:
http://www.cnn.com/

East Coast quake: Nuclear plant near epicenter shut down, all national monuments in D.C. closed, officials warn of aftershocks

 

[DollyPardonMe]

My husband to me with a grin on his face: "Did the earth move for you too, honey?"

(We don't get many quakes here. lol.)

What a quick and great sense of humor!!

 

[maxicut]

So i'm sitting at my desk and the whole building was shaking. I'm in chesapeake, va. The office in Richmond got it BAD! Anyone else in the area feel it?

raysgirl1126,
My sister in law lives in Newport News. According to her the house shook, her hanging plants shook, and her blinds shook. She said it was frightening. She and my brother have lived in Va for 30 years, they can't remember having an earthquake.

 

[Soulmagent]

We are in Fredericksburg.
I should have known something was amiss when our normally cool, calm chihuahua was acting like a spazoid this morning. :crazy:
Took the girls to a late lunch since it's their last day of summer vacay. I had just paid, and the earth moved. I thought a truck had hit the building until it didn't stop right away. Ha ha.
Hubby works for gov't. His building was evacuated, he's on his way home now. Says I-95 is smoothing sailing, which surprised me.
The most distressing thing (besides the obvious ground moving under my feet thing) was not being able to call out on my phone. :/ Texting worked, though.
We are fine. Rattled, but fine.

The new hotel by steak and shake reportly collapsed in fredericksburg.

 

[SuziQ]

CNN reporting vacrious incidents, smell of gas at one airport evacuated. Considerable water in the Pentagon.....

 

[maxicut]

Me too! I remember being in the grocery store and we had an aftershock. My big butt climbed under the shopping cart!

Your butt climbed under the shopping cart? :rocker::crazy:
Girl I have to share that with my fam.

 

[blue_the_puppy]

im just outside of DC, it was very scary. the building in which i work has some minor damage, and we aren't supposed to go back til we have the go-ahead. i finally just went home to make sure my cat was ok (she was). it makes me feel blessed to be in an area where this kind of thing is rare. i cant imagine what people in Haiti, Japan, China have gone through with earthquakes of much higher magnitude.

 

[EmMomma]

The new hotel by steak and shake reportly collapsed in fredericksburg.

Holy carp! We were right around the corner. :/

 

[i.b.nora]

The animals always know. Pay attention to your animals.

 

[Sleuthster]

The animals always know. Pay attention to your animals.

Ive heard that before

 

[thistle]

Pretty exciting for me, I've never felt an earthquake before, but I knew that's what it was-I live in Alexandria, VA & was on the phone w/ a friend, & we both said 'what's happening, I've got to get off', as things were bouncing off the walls-I had 2 12 yr. old girls upstairs, & they were screaming...no aftershocks felt yet, & I was trying to think of where to go online to see if it was really an earthquake...

 

[raeann]

just for a bit of humor......

"Obama to speak soon from Martha's Vineyard golf course to assure all that the earthquake is Bush's fault......"

 

[belimom]

The animals always know. Pay attention to your animals.

Our dog is still a little freaked out. We were out when it happened, and when we got home, she was barking/whining (more than normal...) and just outta sorts.

 

[Nova]

I am curious why there have been no aftershocks? CA people, is this common? Also, according to the USGS website the depth of this siesmic event was not very deep, at all! Lng and Lat makes it hard to believe the distance that this was felt.crazy stuff.

IIRC, most quakes will trigger an aftershock of nearly the same magnitude within 24 hours of the initial quake. (There are usually numerous smaller aftershocks as well.)

 

[thistle]

I wish I could say my dogs are earthquake sensitive, but I think they slept through it (they did have new orthopedic foam dog beds)...

 

[momtective]

just for a bit of humor......

"Obama to speak soon from Martha's Vineyard golf course to assure all that the earthquake is Bush's fault......"

Saw this on twitter: An earthquake just rocked D.C. I'm pretty sure it's from our Founding father's spinning in their graves. :giggle:

Praying there is no loss of life and that all WS are safe.

 

[21merc7]

If you have natural gas, and smell anything off, smells like bad egg salad to me, GO OUTSIDE IMMEDIATELY! Do not call from inside. Go to a gas free area to call the gas company or emergency number.

Most of us in the quake area would not have felt one like this, news is saying that one has not been on this scale since early 1800's.

Just thought I would throw that out there. This area was all built in the 1800's so any cracks in old buildings, pipes, what have you, may cause minor problems that we should all be aware of. Depends on your area what to look out for the next day or so.

 

[evelyn24]

I was in my office building in Rockefeller Plaza in NYC - was sitting at my desk on the 6th floor. I started to feel super dizzy. I thought I was going to faint and I grabbed my desk. I looked up an the lights were swinging then the windows were rattling - stuff was rolling off my desk as the building swayed.

We evacuated and I initially thought it was a terrorist attack in the subway below my building. I was hysterical (I am pregnant and was at work during 9/11) so it was just a crazy reaction.

I feel better now but very worried about this quake as for it being 5.9 not even in NYC - I don't understand hwo we felt it.

I felt dizzy as well. I've never experienced an earthquake before today and I pretty much did the opposite of everything you're told not to do. :floorlaugh:
My entire house was shaking and some things fell off the shelves. I looked outside and people were running out of their homes and the power lines were swaying.
I live south east of Baltimore.

 

[21merc7]

Felt dizzy here as well, but the entire building was shacking, glass moving, felt like I was on the ocean.

That weird ear stopped, need to pop feeling you get when you drive to higher elevations as well.

So much for us newbies at earthquakes. :crazy:

 

[Elphaba]

What a wild ride... you could feel the shaking in your bones. Here in MD, a building has been condemned in Prince George's county because it is unsafe to enter. National Cathedral in DC has been damaged and is taped off... some collapse issues in Baltimore...