Earthquake magnitude 5.8 felt in DC, NYC, Canada, Carolinas, Chicago

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Prinnctopher's Belt

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A 5.8 earthquake struck the D.C. area and beyond, shaking buildings, shattering windows and causing major traffic delays in the region.

Mineral, Va. is reportedly the epicenter of the quake. It was felt from Ohio to New York.

”I thought a truck hit my house,” said Tyler Palmer, who lives in NE D.C. on 4th Street.

The earthquake forced evacuations of all the memorials and monuments on the National Mall in Washington and rattled nerves from South Carolina to Martha's Vineyard, the Massachusetts island where President Barack Obama is vacationing.

The Washington Monument, Lincoln and Jefferson memorials are closed but the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, the World War II Memorial, Vietnam Memorial and the Korean War Memorial remain open.

A District of Columbia fire department spokesman said there were no reports of serious injuries or deaths.

Reports that the Washington Monument tilted during the quake are incorrect. But the quake knocked off one of the spires atop the National Cathedral.

The D.C. Public Schools report that students are safe in evacuation locations for their buildings. They are not suspending after school at this point in time.

Reagan National Airport returned to regular service at about 5:30 p.m. after there is a ground stop on flights and the air traffic control tower was evacuated following the quake.

Dulles has not been impacted by the earthquake and is functioning normally.

Flights scheduled to land are being held in the air or diverted.

Glass window panes shook and paintings and plaques fell off the wall inside the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office.

Sheriff Steve Simpson said, "it felt like a huge truck rumbling by then there was the point of realization that it was something else."

Simpson says so far, there are no reports of serious damage in the county.

The Metro rail system is running but at reduced speeds because of the quake. Metro reports that trains are moving at 15 mph. Expect delays.

An MTA spokesperson says all MARC train service on the Penn, Camden and Brunswick line has been suspended.

Abigail Perkinson, who lives in McLean, Va., said she contacted family who lives in Mineral. Her family told her that pictures fell off the walls and there was “tons of broken glass everywhere.”

Another viewer wrote: I live in Budscreek, MD (northern St. Marys County) we felt it hard -- the house shook knocking items off my desk. The inground pool water sloshed over the sides (about an inch of water was lost), the fish pond sloshed over its banks, the dogs went crazy. It sounded and felt like a plane or helicopter crashed in my yard or was going to hit the house.

Obama and many of the nation's leaders were out of town on August vacation when the quake struck at 1:51 p.m. EDT. The shaking was felt on the Martha's Vineyard golf course as Obama was just starting a round.

At the Pentagon in northern Virginia, a low rumbling built and built to the point that the building was shaking. People ran into the corridors of the government's biggest building and as the shaking continued there were shouts of "Evacuate! Evacuate!"

The U.S. Park Service evacuated and closed all National Mall monuments and memorials. At Reagan National Airport outside Washington, ceiling tiles fell during a few seconds of shaking. Authorities announced it was an earthquake and all flights were put on hold.


http://www.wjla.com/articles/2011/08/earthquake-felt-in-washington-d-c-area-65531.html

USGS Earthquake map
 
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