WDBJ7 Roanoke News and Weather NRV Lynchburg Danville | UPDATED: 2.7 earthquake shakes Central Virginia
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USGS has released details about the earthquake which occurred at 5:24:44 Wednesday afternoon.
"Suddenly, I just heard this loud kind of noise and felt the foundation of the house shaking," said Holly Jones, who witnessed the earthquake.
"I heard this horrible noise and it sounded to me like something had blown up in the basement," said earthquake witness Sandy Jones.
Down the road, strange rumbles brought Veryl Campbell to her front yard.
"Fortunately, this was just a small earthquake that just startled people because it's one of those things that people aren't aware of.," said Amherst County's Public Safety Director, Gary Roakes.UPDATED 10:45 P.M.
At News 7's Lynchburg Newsroom, a number of viewers called and said they felt the earthquake along the Route 29 corridor, near the Amherst/Nelson County line.
The epicenter was many miles away, but residents say they felt like the center was right underneath them.
Holly Jones was reading a book in the kitchen when her attention was shaken to something else.
"Suddenly, I just heard this loud kind of noise and felt the foundation of the house shaking," says Holly Jones, who felt the earthquake.
Her mother Sandy was in the next room.
"I heard this horrible noise and it sounded to me like something had blown up in the basement," says Sandy Jones, who also felt it.
Both Sandy and Holly thought the washing machine had exploded.
"I had been doing laundry and I thought, well there goes the washing machine, but maybe we better get out of here, because it was so loud and it went on so long."
In a house where the Thanksgiving dinner table is already set, there were moments of confusion and unease.
"It kind of startled me more afterwards. I was really feeling kind of scared," said Holly
"I know it probably didn't last as long as it seemed, to me I thought it just kept going," says Sandy Jones.
Down the road, strange rumbles brought Veryl Campbell to her front yard.
"Then, all of a sudden it was a thud, and I thought oh!"
She worried it was coming from the church next door.
"I thought 'oh my gosh, somebody has run into the side of the house!'" says Campbell.
She soon realized her house was fine.
"I was relieved that it was an earthquake," says Campbell.
"It was a minor earthquake," says Gary Roakes, Amherst County Director of Public Safety.
Roakes says Amherst 911 was flooded with calls.
"Fortunately, this was just a small earthquake that just startled people because it's one of those things that people aren't aware of. They don't think of it happening here," says Roakes.
Back at the Jones house, there's no sign of an earthquake. Pictures on the wall and plates on the bookshelf never moved. The only thing that shook was a plant on the fridge.
"I wouldn't want to experience anything more, because I know this house has a pretty solid foundation and it was definitely shaking," says Sandy Jones.
Emergency officials in Nelson, Amherst, and Appomattox counties say there haven't been any reports of major damage or serious injury.
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6:57 UPDATE:
USGS has released details about the earthquake which occured at 5:24:44 Wednesday afternoon.
Magnitude: 2.7
Time: Wednesday, November 25, 2009 at 05:24:44 PM at epicenter
Location: 37.346°N, 78.793°W
Depth: 3.1 miles
Distance From:
View a map of the earhquake location.
6:30pm UPDATE: Faculty in the Seismology department at Virginia Tech are reporting an earthquake DID occur in Central Virginia around 5:30pm. It was a 2.5 magnitude, and the epicenter has yet to be determined.
Amherst County public safety officials say they've taken numerous calls about the quake this afternoon. Callers said they felt the shaking around 5:30 p.m.
