An EARTHQUAKE!?!?! In Northern llinois!?!?!?

[jaybird210]

So 'bout ten minutes after 1 this morning, I awaken to find my bed swaying back and forth. While for most fellows, this would be a good thing, but since I'm single, it is rather unusual. Then the house started rattling a bit.

I thought, hmmm. Not storming. Couldn't have been an earthquake. Waking up this morning, I was convinced it was a brief thunderstorm, and the rocking bed was me startled awake.

Then the news comes on and, zoowie! It really was an earthquake!

I'm moving to Canada.

Anybody else feel anything? Or was it only in Hinckley? We did have our Independance Day fireworks last night; maybe all that booming shook something loose under ground.

[jaybird210]

Magnitude 4.5 Earthquake Strikes Midwest

By F.N. D'ALESSIO
Associated Press Writer
Published June 28, 2004, 5:00 AM CDT

CHICAGO -- A brief earthquake struck the Midwest early Monday, rattling windows and awakening sleeping residents from Wisconsin south to Missouri and from Indiana west to Iowa.

No injuries were reported from the quake, which occurred about 1:11 a.m. CDT.

Brian Lassige, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Colorado, said the quake was magnitude 4.5, and its epicenter was about eight miles northwest of Ottawa in northern Illinois, close to the small village of Troy Grove. The rural area is about 70 miles west of Chicago.

Initial reports indicated no major damage from the temblor, although police agencies and radio stations within the quake area were inundated with telephone calls.

"It was mayhem around here for a while," said Pattie Burke, a dispatcher for the Ottawa Police. "We had more than 200 calls from residents in a short period of time, all of them wanting to know what had happened. A lot of them seemed to think a truck had crashed into their house.

"Here in the station, it felt like an aircraft was about to crash right here."

The quake was felt at three nuclear power plants in Illinois: Quad Cities, LaSalle and Dresden.

Craig Nesbit, a spokesman for the Exelon Corp., which owns the three generating stations, said the Nuclear Regulatory Commission declared an "unusual alert" for all of them, although there appeared to be no damage.

"All of them were operating 100 percent, and no problems were reported, but we did a check of all safety systems," Nesbit said.

Nesbit said the three stations supply electrical power for several million Illinois residents.

Reports of the shaking came from at least as far east as Valparaiso, Ind., and as far west as the Quad Cities, and from Wisconsin in the north to the St. Louis area in the south.

Gary Spaulding of Marseilles, Ill., said he was relaxing in his mobile home when the quake struck.

"It was like somebody shot off dynamite," said Spaulding, who added that his cat leaped out of his lap and would still not come near him two hours later. "I thought maybe a tree hit my trailer."

Joe Knapp of Delafield, Wis., just west of Milwaukee, said he was asleep and awoke when the bed began shaking. "Everything was just rolling back and forth," Knapp said.

[jstafrftr]

Jay,

I felt it, too!! I live about 15 miles from the epicenter in LaSalle County. I too was akoken by the bed shaking. Had the scanner on, and heard all the police agencies talking about what just happened. No one seemed to know. Scared the bejesus out of me.

Strange for me, too, because although I am married, my wife and kids are out of town.

[ChiefReason]

So 'bout ten minutes after 1 this morning, I awaken to find my bed swaying back and forth. While for most fellows, this would be a good thing, but since I'm single, it is rather unusual.

Uh, not necessarily.

Jay,

I felt it, too!!

All right; what did you all eat last week?
We got a lady over in another thread trolling for fire chaplains and now this.
You're creepin' me out.
I have a tee time.
Gotta run.
Oh, Jay; believe it or not, I have earthquake insurance on the policy that I will soon cancel with my current, lyin' bastid of an agent. It's only like 15 bucks a year. But you never know.
CR

[PFire23]

Originally posted by ChiefReason
We got a lady over in another thread trolling for fire chaplains

Maybe she's in search of a "religious" experience???

[ChiefReason]

Jenn:
Did you read it?
I had to look twice. For a minute, I thought I was in Firehouse Chat!
I'm sure that there is a legitimate reason for the inquiry, if that's what you call it. I don't think that we should jump to seclusion or start a rumor. I am sure that they are both happily married, it was an innocent look, a one time "thing", a memory already getting faded, two ships passing in the night!
Wait a minute....
Jake says that the reference to "tongs" is singles ad code for "let's swap spit".
Jake would know.
CR

[jboczek]

I heard about it on the news this morning but they didn't say where it was centered at. Thanks for the information from up north. By the wa, my bed didn't sway at 1 AM this morning, either, and the only thunderstorm we would have had was me snoring.

[jaybird210]

Bump.

Anybody remember this one?

[hatchmaster]

Yep, I was at home and I head the decorations on the bookshelf rattling.