A rare M3.1 earthquake hit right next to South Glens Falls and rattled residents across central New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Long Island, NY on March 11, 2020.
The shallow quake (8.2 miles depth) occurred at 6:43 a.m. and lasted four to five seconds.
Woken up by shaking and loud booms
The earthquake wasn’t strong enough to produce damage of any kind. However, residents report being “woken up by the shaking” and hearing “loud earthquake booms.”
Here a few reports of residents that felt the quake:
At first I thought it was a log truck that went ripping by. Then I got an alert from my weather app that it was an earthquake.
It sounded like a dump truck slammed into the building real hard. My husband says it sounded like a D train arriving at 34th street. It was scary, we went outside to look for damage but found none. Our neighbor and her boyfriend felt what seemed like a sonic boom too, my eardrums still feel sore.
Here’s how I’d describe it at my house in Wilton: A loud boom which sounded like a massive tree falling followed by about 5-7 seconds of shaking which rattled the handles on my dresser drawers.
Here’s how I’d describe it at my house in Wilton: A loud boom which sounded like a massive tree falling followed by about 5-7 seconds of shaking which rattled the handles on my dresser drawers. @WNYT https://t.co/A2kc3uNVUv
— Mark Mulholland (@MulhollandWNYT) March 11, 2020
Saratoga County Sheriff says he hasn’t heard of any reports of damages from this morning’s earthquake. A co-worker who lives in the South Glens Falls area says his family was woken up by the shaking.
#Saratoga County Sheriff says he hasn’t heard of any reports of damages from this morning’s earthquake.
— Jaclyn Cangro (@JaclynCangro) March 11, 2020
A co-worker who lives in the South Glens Falls area says his family was woken up by the shaking. https://t.co/rhvdIlgeCg
More than 2100 people reported feeling the quake between 2 and 30 seconds on the USGS homepage.
On west side of Saratoga it sounded like a big truck or train rolling over, or an explosion. House was shaking. Loud rumbling with some booms.
— Cate (@catemb) March 11, 2020
Risks of earthquakes in New York City
Earthquakes are rare in New York State, with only 560 earthquakes since 1737 and five damaging earthquakes in 1737, 1929, 1944, 1983 and 2002.
But according to recent research, New York City is overdue for strong earthquake that could level thousands of buildings and at least injure thousands of residents.
Big Apple is indeed riddled with fault lines that could cause a significant earthquake. Its last experienced 5.0 quake was in 1884. Since they occur every 100 years, NYC is overdue for the next destructive earthquake.
The earthquake risk is much, much higher today since the number of people, assets and their vulnerability are so much greater. Be prepared! More rare earthquake news on Strange Sounds and Steve Quayle. [USGS]
I have a feeling that won’t be the last time they’re going to feel a shaking up there the next ones will be stronger, New York is as bad as California is.