home

F

or a few days now, Oriental residents have been keeping a wary eye out for Hurricane Irene, which could come calling on Saturday. While we were making those preparations, we didn’t expect another force of nature to hit us unawares. Tuesday afternoon just before 2p, many people in Oriental and Pamlico County noticed a shaking. A common reaction was that a washer or dryer was out of kilter.

Instead, it was the biggest earthquake recorded on the East Coast, centered a few dozen miles from Richmond, Virginia. The quake, which hit at 1:51p, registered 5.8 on the Richter scale. Because of the wide-ranging plate under the earth in this part of the country, it could be felt hundreds of miles away.

Here at TownDock, one of the staff definitely felt the swaying while on the second-floor. Water in a vase kept moving for about a half minute. (Another TownDock staffer was in a car on the road and missed it entirely.) It seemed that the higher up off the ground a person was, the more likely they experienced it.

That rumbling earth feeling is rare on this side of the country. So, we asked the question: Did you feel it?

Readers responded from Oriental and Pamlico County and beyond.

We start with two readers in town who had relatives working much closer to the epicenter of the quake:

From Judi Heit:

So I’m sitting here in my office at Mariner Realty … my desk makes a little shudder and the window blind sways a bit. I call out to Judy Marco, “Are we having an earthquake or something?” But she’s on the phone and doesn’t answer. A minute later she comes into my office to tell me there’s been an earthquake. I get on TownDock and learn where the center of it is. I call Ralf who is at a truck stop at exit 58 in Richmond. He’d just felt his truck “shimmy” but thought it was a huge diesel rig that’s parked next to him!

From Caroline Bliss:

It sounded like elephants running up my stairs (up 8 feet on pilings) and I got up and saw the mirrors sort-of fluttering on the walls. The washer and dryer weren’t running, so I ruled that out, then I ran to the window and didn’t see much wind. I started thinking I imagined it and then – a few minutes later – my son Patrick texted from Williamsburg, VA to say “they” had a “minor earthquake” and I realized that’s what it was! He’s working at Busch Gardens and they closed the rides but the park is still open . . .

Former Oriental resident Cheryl Huff now lives in Fredericksburg, Virginia with her son Gabriel and dog, Fred:

Pretty exciting. We are okay, though Fred won’t calm down, which makes me nervous for aftershocks…

Luckily, I was home with Gabriel. Many co-workers were on campus, evacuated and didn’t have car keys…ugh.

On Main Street in Oriental, Douglass Wales thought it was the neighbors’ washer:

Matt and I had just finished discussing how the town house shakes so badly in high winds, and what we would do if Irene were to pay us a visit. Then, I felt it, I thought it was Noel and Carolynn’s washer on high warble….. How are the stars aligned today? Could be a tell tale of things to come…..

Dottie Osmun wrote:

Yes, I felt it. I was laying on the table with heat packs after physical therapy at Village Health & Fitness. The table and the wooden walls moved. I was in an earthquake once before & the feeling was the same.

Off of Broad Creek, Mary and Andy Anton — if not their fish — noted the quake, too:

Sure felt the quake at Fork Point off Straight Road. Watched the water move in the fish tanks.

From Sandy Evens:

Yep, I felt it. I was sitting in Bob Pittman’s art class at PCC. My chair under me just rocked like I was in a boat. A big metal garage door rattled. But Bob just kept doing. So…the instructor didn’t miss a beat tho several of us looked at each other during the few minute episode, we knew not what….

From Toronto, reader Jan Dique gave an early sense of just how far away the quake was felt:

Hey folks! Glad to see you’re at the desk (and not standing outside in the streets as the buildings tumble … ) – very relieved & will feel much better when I hear no boats fell over in people’s backyards …

Earthquake report: Felt all along the northern shore of Lake Ontario — 30 seconds of shaking such that the 2nd floor of this brick house was moving enough to comment “what the heck?”. Similar in Welland, Niagara, Whitby, Toronto, Kingston — shaking, no damage thus far.

Rochester piped in — also 30 seconds of shaking. No damage thus far.

Hugs.

Paul and Nancy Miller checked in from Greens Creek:

The ground moved in Mainsail Point, or at least the house did!

From Ragan Road, Cynthia Little wrote:

I was washing dock lines and the whole house started shaking. I thought my washing machine was quite off balance – not the case!!! Who would have suspected an earthquake? My 86-year-old father felt the quake in Clearfield, PA and was quite excited to experience his very first earthquake. My daughter in Gainesville, VA thought her house was on the verge of collapse. She snatched up her baby daughter and ran outside where she and her neighbors feared Washington DC was under attack. Finally they realized it was an earthquake. Thank heavens there have been no reported injuries and no significant damage. Wonder if we’ll feel any of the after shocks?

From Freemason Street Margaret Reiswig wrote:

Yeah, I was standing up in the quilt studio, looking at the TV and worrying about the ‘cane when all-of-a-sudden……..Weird stuff!

From Greensboro, John Deal pondered the timing of hurricane and earthquake:

Felt it over here in Greensboro…actually, a tsunami might have counteracted hurricane storm surge :). Ah, all in the timing, eh?

Lynn DeChesser:

Absolutely! I was working at my computer when the furniture started to shake. I went to ask my neighbor if he felt it too, or if I had finally gone around the bend! He agreed…..yes, I had! But besides that………..earthquake felt on Ragan Road.

Steve Petty offered a take on the reaction where he works:

Desk started shaking here in Wilson, NC. Looked like prairie dogs popping up with people looking over their cubes wall in wonder.

John Mavrovich, who keeps a boat at Pecan Grove, was also at work when it hit:

Felt it at my office in RTP. (btw, keep up the fine work you do. i enjoy your web site)

Also in RTP, Flora Moorman wrote:

Amazing. Yes chair shaking experience.

Leslie Dobbs-Allsopp wrote:

I was at the church I serve in central NJ and felt the earthquake today! Now back to worrying about Irene, and our house and boat on Smith Creek…

Writing from Columbia, SC, Iris Nance suspected a plot:

Irene and quake tremors in Oriental? I think they are a ruse to keep me from moving to Oriental.

AH HA Towndock, I’m on to you! We will be there in October looking for wind swept, rain soaked, crumbled property anyway. Stay high and dry….and don’t fall to pieces.

Helen Coe wrote:

Hi, I felt it here off Pamlico Rd. My monitor began shaking and I could feel the vibrations. My husband said he didn’t feel anything outside. Quite an experience for me!

Charlie Garrett writes in:

Our friends, the Fritz’s sent us this picture of the quake damage from their son’s house, which is only 25 miles from the epicenter. Amazing.

Ken Stickrath confirmed the higher-center-of-gravity phenomenon.

I DID feel the earthquake. Here in our condo on Factory Street I felt my chair move and the building as well. Then the TV news, which announced the “breaking news”, and proceeded to interrupt with a commercial. I once had the same experience in Japan so I do know what they feel like. Next up—a HURRICANE! Wonder what else is in store for us? Famine and pestilence next??

We don’t know about the pestilence — a lot of cicada-killing wasps have been sighted lately, which could reduce the chance of swarming. Meanwhile, attention now turns back to the act of nature that we do get some warning about: Hurricane Irene.

Posted Wednesday August 24, 2011 by Melinda Penkava