Saturday, February 15, 2014

Earthquake rocks SC; local residents report hearing rumbling, no damage

Earthquake rocks SC; local residents report hearing rumbling, no damage
UPDATE 10 a.m. Saturday: Emergency officials say there's been no damage reported in York County as a result of a small earthquake that sent tremors as far as Atlanta and Hickory, N.C. on Friday night.
Many local residents did call 911 when the earthquake hit at 10:23 p.m. Some told emergency operators that they heard an explosion. Others recognized the activity as an earthquake, said Cotton Howell, director of York County's emergency management office.From an emergency management perspective, the small quake was not significant, he said, but it did give people something to talk about.  Friday's tremors felt in many parts of York County and neighboring Lancaster and Chester counties are nothing compared to what South Carolina residents felt in 1886 when a "significant" earthquake shook Charleston, Howell said. Then, "we had church bells ringing and chimneys fall in Rock Hill."The area felt another "historic earthquake" in 1913 when a quake rattled Union County and surrounds, he said.Experts reported that Friday's earthquake, which hit 7 miles west of the town of Edgefield, was "weak" and caused "no damage," even in localities closest to the epicenter.

FROM BEFORE: A small earthquake centered between South Carolina and Georgia sent tremors throughout the state late Friday night, startling residents in York County, many of whom reported to emergency officials that they heard "explosions."
Those "explosions" were actually the result of a 4.1 magnitude earthquake that hit 7 miles west of the town of Edgefield, officials said.
The quake at 10:23 p.m. was centered on the edge of Thurmond Lake, just north of the area hardest hit by this week's snow and ice storm.
Tremors were sent throughout the state, shaking Chester, York and Lancaster counties, and going as far to areas in southern North Carolina.
Several residents called in to emergency dispatchers, initially reporting that they heard explosions, said Cotton Howell, director of York County's emergency management office.
The quake, while small, "gets people's attention," he said.
Readers of The Herald reported on social media that they felt the quake in Lesslie, Lake Wylie, Catawba, Rock Hill, York, McConnells, Fort Mill, Tega Cay, Chester and Lancaster.
One woman wrote that she her "…cabin shook, roof shook, floor rumbled." A Lancaster County woman said her entertainment center was moved and the glass table in her living room shook so hard it nearly broke.
Melba Carter, who lives in Chester County's Baton Rouge community on the western side of the county, said her entire house shook as she heard a rumbling noise outside. The noise caused her and members of her household to jump into action.
"We looked at each other and went to the door, thinking it was an accident outside," she said.
If so, it would be the area's second on Friday. As snow and ice melted in the aftermath of winter storm Pax, a tractor-trailer truck ran off the road on S.C. 9, rupturing its fuel tank and spilling 125 gallons of fuel into snow runoff that began dripping into a creek. The crash happened near Carter's home.
But Carter quickly realized that the rumbling she heard was not another truck, but tremors from an earthquake in a town about 90 miles away.
"I jumped right on the phone and Facebook," she said. "Everybody I was calling felt it, too.
"Then, I felt better. I didn't want to think I was going crazy."
By early Saturday morning, emergency officials had not received reports of damage or injuries from the quake.
Howell said emergency officials are interested in receiving any reports of damage, such as cracks in walls or broken glass, to pass that information along to geologists. Call 803-326-2300. Emergency officials ask residents not to call to report that they felt tremors, but only if they noticed any damage.

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