Tuesday, August 23, 2011

A whole lot of shaking going on .......

We had an earthquake this afternoon around 1:50. It was a 5.8 magnitude quake, the stongest in central Virginia history. The epicenter was near Mineral, Virginia which is about 50 miles north of us.

Hubby had been cutting grass and was sitting in the garage resting. I had just taken clothes off the line and had come in the garage when we heard a rumble and things began to shake. We both realized it was an earthquake right away. Things on the shelves in the garage were rattling and at one point the house began to creak and groan. I stood there fascinated by the shaking and noise, then calmly walked outside and looked around. The only damage I've been able to find is that a thermometer was knocked off a tree in the yard.

I came inside and turned on the TV. I wasn't sure if there would be any reports on our local TV stations. I was totally surprised when I heard that it had been felt all along the east coast and that it was news on all the major stations as well as MSNBC and CNN.

Earthquakes are not all that rare in our area, but they are usually so weak that unless you are paying attention you don't even know they happened. We did have one in 2003 that felt as strong as this one.

Now our attention will be on hurricane Irene which will arrive this weekend. I plan on going to the store tomorrow and stocking up on water and batteries. I'm hoping it stays far enough off shore that we do not get stong winds, but close enough so we get rain. It's still too early to tell what her path will be.

14 comments:

Michelle said...

I was surprised when I read about this today. Glad you didn't have any damage and I hope you don't from the hurricane either.

Lynilu said...

That one and one in Colorado, same strength! Wow!

Gilly said...

Just read about the earthquake on line. So pleased you are OK. Now lets hope you don't get the hurricane!

(Diane) Bibliophile By the Sea said...

Glad you are fine Mary. My boss felt it here in New England as did others, but I was bust blabbing with a coworkers and we were oblivious to it all.

My husband was napping and was woken by it.

Pat said...

It was a shock wasn't it. I'm near Baltimore and it was quite a shaker. You were so much closer. Glad you had no damage. Yes...now thinking about Irene. Appears it could take the same path as Isabel which is scary.

schmidleysscribblins,wordpress.com said...

We are north of you and my daughter and her family near Culpeper, which is 36 miles from Mineral. Their city suffered a lot of damgage.

We are about 80 miles north of the epicenter. My house shivered and shook and some of the photos fell off the shelves, but all seems well today. Damage to the East, South and North of us to bigger buildings, seems worse however.

We won't see too much damage from Irene, knock on wood. I worry more about wind from spin-off tornadoes more than anything else.

Dianne

Unknown said...

Nary a wiggle down here but my brother called from Virginia Beach worried that the Navy base a mile to the west was under attack. They really got a good shake!

NitWit1 said...

Glad the thermometer was the only victim. Not a great loss and the bane of summer.

I could have broken a 100 thermometers after so many days of 100 deg heat baked my brain.

CountryDew said...

I'm glad there was no damage to your home, since you are that close.

Lisa @ Two Bears Farm said...

We felt it here too. The pictures were shaking on the walls.

TheBookGirl said...

We had the earthquake here, tho I didn't feel it. Now we are gearing up for Irene. Hope you stay safe this weekend :)

Sweetflutterbys3 said...

We got a good shake here in PA. I was on my way to the pediatricians with my kids when it hit. I didn't notice it because I was driving, but when we got to the office, all the staff was outside. It was sure strange!

I am glad you all were alright.

Thistle Cove Farm said...

glad you weathered the earthquake and hurricane, it's been a week!

J_on_tour said...

Hope you are keeping yourselves safe. My thoughts are with you. A frightening experience.