Friday, April 18, 2008

Earthquake in Indiana!!!



Holy hell! We had an earthquake this morning...woke me up out of a sound sleep, made me scream like a little girl..My eight year old ran into my room freaking out....scared the crap out of us. Also put a crack in my front porch. The windows were shaking, my bed was shaking, the t.v. on my dresser was shaking...it only lasted about 30-40 seconds...but I have never expierienced anything like that in my life.


We felt it: earthquake rocks Central Indiana

Posted: April 18, 2008 06:00 AM EDT

Updated: April 18, 2008 09:01 AM EDT

Interview with USGS expert on morning earthquake
ISP: No reports of injuries, no significant damage reported
Shaking felt at Indy airport control tower
Earthquake shaking captured on security cameras
We felt it: earthquake rocks Central Indiana
Earthquake damage in Kentucky





The quake was centered near West Salem



INDIANAPOLIS (WISH/AP) -- The U.S. Geologic Survey reports that an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.2 has struck the Midwest. It happened at 5:36 a.m.

The USGS Web site said the quake was centered near West Salem, Illinois, or about 40 miles northwest of Evansville, Indiana.

A Vincennes University spokesman says 250 students were evacuated when fire alarms sounded, apparently due to the earthquake.

The earthquake was felt as far north as Kokomo, Rochester and Warsaw in Indiana, as well as in Evansville, Fort Wayne and Indianapolis. It shook tall buildings in downtown Indianapolis.

"I was in the shower and my first thought was that it felt like a dinosaur running down the hallway. My husband didn't notice anything. Everything seems to be fine so far," said Susan from St. Paul, Indiana.

"I was awake when I started feeling the house shake. My husband was leaving for work and said he felt it too. We do not have any damage that I have found, but we do live in Brown County at Sweetwater Lake, and we have many trees that I will have to check," said Shannon on the 24-Hour News 8 comment forums.

"Very exciting! It woke us up! You could hear rumbling outside and the mirror attached to the dresser shake. No damage at this point," said a Fishers resident.

"I felt it too. At first I thought it was wind, but thought how does a house shake that long without falling down? It seemed to last at least a minute. I though I was dreaming. My cat had waken me up about 20 minutes before it happened meowing weirdly and is still freaking out. A few things fell off shelves but we all are okay. Good to know I am not crazy, the house really did move," said Amanda Smith from Illinois.

There were no immediate reports of injuries, but 24-Hour News 8 has received phone calls reporting some damage. Residents in Princeton, Indiana have reported damage inside their homes. 911 services were reportedly knocked out for an hour and were restored around 6:45 a.m. in Gibson County.

"It shook our house where it woke me up," said David Behm of Philo, 10 miles south of Champaign. "Windows were rattling, and you could hear it. The house was shaking inches. For people in central Illinois, this is a big deal. It's not like California."

"I live in Greenwood, south side of Indianapolis, and had gotten up to go to the restroom. I was extremely tired and thought I felt the 'floor' move and heard rattling. It happened so quickly I assumed that I was just still half asleep and 'dreaming' it. Of course, after waking up at 7 a.m. and hearing of the earthquake on the news, I was happy to know I wasn't really losing my mind," said Tina.

The quake shook skyscrapers in Chicago's Loop, 240 miles north of the epicenter, and even in Milwaukee, Wis., 350 miles north of the epicenter. Residents of Cincinnati, St. Louis and in Michigan also reported feeling the earth shake.

The quake occurred in the Illinois basin-Ozark dome region that covers parts of Indiana, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, and Arkansas and stretches from Indianapolis and St. Louis to Memphis, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Indiana State Police spokesman Sgt. Todd Ringle says there are also no immediate reports of damage. Ringle says he was shaken out of his bed in the Evansville area by the earthquake.

The Great 1906 San Francisco earthquake happened 102 years ago today at 5:12 a.m.


Did any of you guys within my neck of the woods feel it?

Dixiechick...out!

12 comments:

DJ MotorCityMonk said...

that's pretty cool - wish I felt it

DIXIECHICK said...

Monk...it was weird...scary but exciting at the same time...I couldn't go back to sleep afterwards, wondering if it was going to happen again...how big it was on the rhicter scale, you know? and if there were going to be an aftershock...

A Novelist said...

I heard about the earthquake on the news this morning!!! I am glad you're alright! Being from the west coast, I have my fair share of earthquake stories... :)

Stay safe! (hugs)

Kendra said...

Hey there...found your blog when I was doing a Blogger search on the earthquake..

I'm in western KY - about 2 hours from the epicenter - and it woke me up from a sound sleep this morning. I knew what it was, having been through a similar one down here back in 1987, but it was still pretty scary. I'm not normally an early riser, but I sure was this morning. I was so hyped up that I didn't get back to sleep for a couple hours. Fun fun!

By the way...I'm a Purdue grad, spent 6 years of my life around West Lafayette and Lafayette, and still miss the area!

Cynthia said...

Crazy...I'm watching it on the news right now. Glad you're OK!

Ken said...

Hope everyone is ok. We had a series of quakes off the coast recently, but no one around here felt them.

.:| Melissa.Mizladytaz |:. said...

Glad you're OK, Dixie Chick!! That was just a teeny one though! ;0) I'm from Cali. I've been through lots of them, all sizes. The one they had in Cali a few years back, a couple of days before Christmas, was in the town where I used to live, Paso Robles, CA. I lived here in GA, BUT my kids were all living in Paso, and OMG talk about FAREEEEK OUT cuz I couldn't get a hold of them on the phone! Two people were killed, downtown, and I knew my daughter hung out around downtown!! I kept trying to call, but the calls wouldn't go through! I ended up turning on every damn IM program I had (like 4 or 5 of them, I think! LOL), hoping and praying one of them could and would get on the net and let me know they were alright! Thankfully my oldest one finally did! Everyone was fine, Thank God!

Anonymous said...

Yep woke me up...but I had gotten drunk the night before so I thought I was just having crazy feelings from the alcohol. ha ha Turns out I was feeling the earth move!

ShannanB said...

I live in Northern Kentucky/Cincinnati and we felt it here too. It wasn't quite as intense as what you felt. Glad you are ok. Must have been very scary.

Blog Hoppin

Maureen said...

Wow. I am so lucky I live on the Canadian Shield... rock hard and no faults...

That would have been scary! Glad you're all okay.

Maureen
Blog Hoppin'

Toni said...

Saw it on the news but not near enough to you to feel it....how exciting!

DIXIECHICK said...

Novelist..I bet you have...wouldn't want to deal with them like that. One time is enough for me.

Kendra..yeah, woke me up as well.
I remember a slight tremor, once before when I lived in Terre Haute, maybe 9 or 10 years ago. Weird to wake up to that. Anyway, nice to know someone from this area..Purdue is great..we go to some of the football games. Trying to get my 17 year old to apply there for college.

Nap..thanks. Yeah, it was crazy, but we are all fine.

DaddyO..we are all fine. Hopefully, we won't have anymore.

Melissa...compared to the one you described, ours was a teeny one. Scary stuff ,huh?


Flat..you are hilarious...why were you out getting drunk on a Thursday night, my friend?


Mommybits..thanks for stopping by. It only lasted briefly...I didn't feel any aftershocks that were reported later in the morning, did you?


Maureen, glad you are safe from that kind of stuff. I never expected for us to have anything like that around here...you think earthquakes, you think CA, not IN...


Toni..yeah, made it hard to fall back asleep afterwards.