Tuesday, August 23, 2011

EARTHQUAKE!!!

Up until 1:51 this afternoon, all anyone was talking about was Hurricane Irene.  Where is she coming ashore?  How high will the winds be?  As of this morning, it looked like it had a bead on Virginia. . through the area of North Carolina we love the most, Wilmington and Emerald Isle. . .sigh. . .

And then 1:51 came and . . .




We are not prone to earthquakes, but they do happen from time to time.  We had one in 2003 that was centered in Lynchburg, Virginia (about 3 hours drive south of my house) that measured 4.3 and we felt it here.  Then there was one in 2008, which I don't know the strength of.  Then in July of last year we had another one about 4.3 that woke me up around 4:00 am sounding like a humongous Mack Truck driving down the road.  And now todays: 5.8!  Yikes!!  That's kind of a big one, especially for us!

The epicenter was in Mineral, Virginia which is 90 miles south of D. C. and about an hour to hour and a half south of us.
  Instrumental Intensity Image

We have friends in Mineral who did report widespread damage that was pretty extensive and the North Anna Power Plant was shut down at Lake Anna to check for possible damage.  Everything appears to be in good order, thanks be to God.

So, not much got done this afternoon, what with everyone laughing and sort shaking off (sorry) the shake up (I'm really sorry) we had had.  I was able, after a time, to check on Pat and Aidan and found them doing okay.  Aidan did not nap today so he'll be off to bed shortly.  And my sisters and my mom checked on me to make sure I was okay--via texting because our cell service was not working for a while.  Very nice of them and I was happy to report we were all okay.

The only thing that happened at the house were a few things fell.  Fortunately, it was in the Family Room which is still carpeted--for the time being!  The foundation and chimney all appear in good order and we did not see any cracks in the walls, always a good thing, too.


And so, now back to our other pending natural disaster. . . where will Irene hit?  And since we had an earthquake, can't we just take a bye on this one???

2 comments:

Our Russian Adopted Princess said...

glad to hear your all good. The earth is having major birth pains huh?

Troy and Rachel said...

We felt is majorly in Charlottesville at my office and at our house also. We also had a few aftershocks - one around 1 am that woke me up!! Glad ou all are safe! Freaky day!!