5.9 magnitude earthquake that lasted about 50 seconds hit our area. The Epicenter was 9 miles from Mineral, Virginia.
Walls and ceilings shook and rattled here. It was a terrifying experience. It took me a second to realize what was happening.
Where were you when it happened? Did you suffer any damage? I still can’t dial out on my land line or my cell phone.
Yeah, that was a WTF moment
That sure wasn’t a Quantico training exercise. I had stuff fall off of the shelves. I’d just hung up from talking to Moon. I thought we may have being punished for something or another. 😉
That would have happened if someone could have willed it to happen.
About an hour before the earthquake I thought a branch had fallen on the house. One of my cats had knocked over my stacking metal candlesticks. It made a huge crash and several of them broke. My dog went around looking guilty after the crash. Typical dog – blameless but still accepting the guilt. Now I wonder if she knew something bigger was in store.
So when the earthquake hit, my immediate response was “damn branch!” until it went on for almost a minute. I opened the door to let the pets run outside but they just ran for the basement instead. Never overestimate housecats’ intelligence. The dog is still spooked.
I thought it was a plane crashing..into my building! I sometimes see planes circling Dulles here.
Actually saw the exterior wall moving in my house, going up and down. A window which was unlatched went up by itself. The whole neighborhood was rattling — shutters, siding, chimneys. Everything still working, and no damage thus far.
Give it a few hours for phone service to be restored to normal. Priority traffic to support C2 (Command and Control) to allow first responders to respond and communicate.
Listening to the radio I heard that Stafford has asked all volunteer emergency personnel to report. Guessing the same may happen in other counties.
That was a fun ride! 🙂
The folks at Shoppers are going to be spending the rest of the afternoon putting stuff back on the shelves.
Very scary, my kids, especially my little girl, are still feeling out of sorts.
That’s one way to clear a government building!
I was working from home in our attic, watching the walls undulate and hearing CDs thrown off shelves around me.
I missed it! I was driving in my car and never felt a thing! I got home minutes after it occured and my son was yelling about how we had an earthquake! I finally got thru to husband who was on the way home from Farmville and he didn’t feel anything as he was driving either. Weird.
My mom was driving too and felt nothing!
We felt it. You could see the house vibrating around us.
James Madison was spinning in his grave. That was the cause.
@Cargosquid
So, it takes an earthquake to get ya back on the blog? 😉
You are very close to the epicenter. I find really odd that those in their cars didn’t feel it. I sure felt in my house.
My daughter was driving in the Ashburn area in Loudoun County; and, while she was stopped at a traffic light, the car began to shake and buck. She had no idea what it was and turned back to see if the driver behind her had bumped into her car. Then she saw his car shaking and bucking too. When the shaking had stopped and the light had turned green, the driver in front of her just sat there like she was in shock. Leaning on the horn was apparently the only thing that shook her out of it.
So drivers could feel it if stopped but not if driving?
Actually, I wasn’t sure that it was an earthquake. I was kissing my wife at the time and that feeling is a normal occurrence. 🙂
Our sooper sekrit mishun to South Carolina was a rousing success! Darling daughter and wife flew in a helicopter for the first time, my second. We saw dolphins. We went swimming on the beach. Sea shells were collected. Rope courses were enjoyed. Tons of seafood were devoured.
Good times.
Damn Cargo, she must be a hell of a woman if you are still feeling the earth move like it did at my house. You were closer to the epicenter than I.
My friend John teaches at Louisa County High School in Mineral which was the epicenter. The high school sustained some damage. The principal and superintendant had stopped by to see him right when the earthquake hit. Only John. [shaking head] They evacuated. Lots of ceiling tiles and grid down as well as broken glass.
I called him and asked if he was dead. He roared.
@Moon-howler
Any woman that can put up with me for over 21 years is ONE HELL OF A WOMAN.
By the way, here’s a pic of Wash. DC damage
http://jmckinley.posterous.com/dc-earthquake-devastation
My daughter also called us and asked if there had been an earthquake as she too was driving and felt nothing, and only heard after the fact. How did those of us driving NOT feel the tremors? Maybe a physics student can answer. Was the quake up and down or side by side? I don’t know. But a tremor felt all the way to Toronto, that no driver near the epicenter felt..what does that equal?
I was on I-66 between Rosslyn and Falls Church, and I thought I had a flat tire. I was slowing down to pull over when the shaking stopped. A friend with a house at Lake Anna said the fish started jumping during the quake.
Another rumbler….
Did you feel an aftershock ? @ Censored.
AFTERSHOCK! RUN!
Its just been reported that there have been 4 aftershocks.
DC evacuates! Economy improves. Women and Children hardest hit.
@Moon-howler
Yes, probably like the quake we experienced a few years ago…lasted a few seconds or long enough to scare the dog.
DB – it’s a common phenomenon that drivers don’t feel even fairly strong earthquakes. The tires insulate or dampen a lot of the ground feel and the road noise cancels out the characteristic aural signals that most people in buildings report during earthquakes. I had the distinct privilege of being out in the middle of a field during this one. It made a good bit of noise even in the great outdoors. I was walking two big, strong dogs, both of whom decided to go nuts when they felt the temblor. At the time, I was stunned – my brain was trying to process that it was an earthquake but at the same time reconciling that data point with the notion that we don’t have them here. Nonetheless, I was very happy that I was able to experience a fairly significant seismic event in the middle of an open field. I would have been very frustrated to have missed such a rarity had I been behind the wheel at the moment.
I’m a bit surprised to hear people say that it lasted as long as a minute. I think our sense of time gets very distorted by such elemental events. My guess would have been about 10 seconds. But I wonder (all the regular contributors here who are Ph.D. seismologists can chime in) whether the discernible ground waves might be longer in some locations that others.
@Scout
I am only going by what was said on TV. I didnt even have the sense to get my cell phone camera going and it was sitting right next to me.
I don’t think it was a minute. I heard 40-50 seconds. That seems about right. It lasted longer than I wanted it to last!!!
I still thought it was squirrels on the roof or a terrorist attack after 10 seconds…before I started hollering earthquake earthquake at my husband.
the kids and I had a “debriefing” at bedtime about the days events. The common theme for our nighttime “thankfuls” was that no one was hurt in the earthquake. That word, earthquake, still feel incongruous with my life as life long Virginian!
What a day to remember! Everyone buy a washington post tomorrow for a keepsake!
@scout..thanks for the explaination of drivers vs tremors. Lived in japan for many years in a high rise (10 story) building which rocked during earthquakes. Some small tremors could rock (literally) the building, and it would freak me out at the time, so how odd that I wasn’t able to discern an apparent 5.9 as I drove down the road.
@Elena
That’s a good idea. I’m definitely going out to buy a few papers.
I was talking to the kids in the neighborhood about it. The early teens thought it was “cool”. The little ones were genuinely frightened and their fear seemed to have some staying power. I was tempted to tell the sweet 6 year old next door not to worry – these things only happen every hundred years or so, but caught myself when I realized my credibility would be shot if another kicked in tomorrow. I think a big hug from her Mom would probably be the best antidote. I’m sure she got more than a few.
We live over a lot of rock so maybe that’s why we felt the tremors for as long as we did. I have a fishing pole that leans against a glass door and I could hear it tapping against the glass for several seconds longer than I could feel the quake.
@Censored
I could feel it in the sofa for a minute or 2 after the quake stopped. Springs?