August 23rd, 2011
04:06 PM ET

Earthquake shuts down Virginia nuclear plant

An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.9 struck Tuesday afternoon near Washington, D.C., the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The epicenter was in Mineral, Virginia. The quake was four miles deep, according to the USGS. Did you feel it? Send CNN an iReport.

To get complete coverage and all the latest updates, click on CNN's main story here. View a CNN Open Story about the quake. CNN Open Story combines iReports with reports from CNNers across the globe on a map and timeline.

Update 3:36 p.m. ET: Terminal A at Washington Reagan National Airport has been evacuated because of an odor of gas, airport spokeswoman Courtney Mickalonis said. Initial sweeps of the building showed no major damage from the earthquake.

Light structural damage has been reported in Culpepper and Orange counties in Virginia, said Laura Southard of the state Emergency Operations Center. She said there have been no reports of injuries in Virginia.

Update 3:28 p.m. ET: The White House and adjacent buildings evacuated as a precaution following the earthquake have been given the all-clear, the U.S. Secret Service said. The FBI and Justice Department have also reopened evacuated buildings.

Update 3:25 p.m. ET: East Coast residents should be prepared to feel aftershocks from Tuesday's earthquake, a U.S. Geological Survey official said.

Update 3:22 p.m. ET: The North Anna nuclear power plant, located 20 miles from the epicenter, is shut down and in a safe condition, a company official and the Louisa County public information office report. There has been no release of nuclear material, Louisa County spokeswoman Amanda Reidelbach said.

Update 3:04 p.m. ET: All national monuments and parks in Washington are "stable but closed" following Tuesday's earthquake, a United States Park Police spokesman Sgt. David Schlosser said. A couple of minor injuries and some minor structural damage have been reported in Washington, following Tuesday's earthquake, according to Schlosser.

Part of the central tower of the National Cathedral, the highest point in Washington, was damaged, according to spokesman Richard Weinberg. "It looks like three of the pinnacles have broken off the central tower," Weinberg told CNN.

Update 3:02 p.m. ET: Amtrak is reporting service disruptions between Washington and Baltimore because of the earthquake, the company reported on Twitter.

Aftershocks are a concern, U.S. Geological Survey seismologist Lucy Jones told CNN. "People should be expecting (them), especially over the next hour or two," she said.

The quake was felt in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; New York City and on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, where President Barack Obama is vacationing. It's unknown if the president felt the quake.

The Pentagon has been evacuated, CNN's Barbara Starr reports. "When the building began shaking rather violently, hundreds of people began streaming out," she said, because many people thought that the building was under attack. Starr was standing in the Pentagon's press office when the roof started to shake.

Cell phone service has been disrupted in New York City, CNN learned within minutes of the quake.

Updated 2:47 p.m. ET: A "considerable amount" of water from a water pipe has flooded two corridors of the Pentagon, according to an announcement in the building. People who work in those areas are being asked to stay in their offices while workers try to repair the damage.

The National Cathedral in Washington is damaged, CNN has confirmed.

And Dominion Generation, which operates the North Anna nuclear power station in central Virginia a few miles from the epicenter of the earthquake, is trying to reach operational staff at the plant, according to a company spokesman. Landlines to the plant appear to be down.

Shortly after the quake struck, traders in the New York Stock Exchange also felt the quake and shouted to each other, "Keep trading!" CNN's business correspondent Alison Kosik reported from the floor at 2:20 p.m. E.T.

Twitter traffic suggests the quake was felt all over the East Coast.

In Philadelphia, HunterPence3 tweeted, "Wow Earthquake just shook the entire locker room!"

In Cleveland, "tribeinsider" wrote "I'm no expert but i think we just had an earthquake here."

And even in Toronto, Canada, tweets said that the shaking could be felt for minutes.

Pete Krech, who works at a business in Fredericksburg, Virginia, likened the sensation to being on a jolting amusement ride. "I was receiving a supply truck," said Krech, store manager at Mattress Warehouse of Fredericksburg, south of Washington. "I felt a vibration under my feet."

Brendan Wein, a sales representative at Hoffman Nursery in Roxboro, North Carolina, said he thought there was a helicopter flying above his work building.  "I was literally shaking in my chair," he said.

CNN iReporter Jeff Yapalater said he was in his backyard in New York's Long Island when the earthquake hit. "Suddenly I felt this light swaying of the Earth. I'd never felt that before, so I thought maybe I was experiencing vertigo for a moment, and it lasted maybe 30 seconds ... We're feeling this really far away!" he wrote.

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Filed under: District of Columbia • Earthquake • Natural Disasters • Virginia
soundoff (12,567 Responses)
  1. Dawn T

    Dayton OH felt it

    August 23, 2011 at 2:51 pm | Report abuse |
  2. Antonio Agron

    I'm in Hartford CT. and I felt the quake it lasted under a minute but pretty strong

    August 23, 2011 at 2:51 pm | Report abuse |
  3. Vincent C

    Felt it! 32nd floor World Trade Center Building 7

    August 23, 2011 at 2:51 pm | Report abuse |
  4. mbogin

    My daughter felt it in Cherry Hill, NJ and my husband felt it in his office in Lake Harmony, North East Pennsylvania

    August 23, 2011 at 2:51 pm | Report abuse |
  5. The King

    Stamford too

    August 23, 2011 at 2:51 pm | Report abuse |
  6. Lynn

    It was felt in Rockland, Ontario, Canada which is about 15 minutes east of Ottawa, Ontario.

    August 23, 2011 at 2:51 pm | Report abuse |
  7. upstate ny

    countrycook, go back to the westboro baptist church where you belong.

    August 23, 2011 at 2:51 pm | Report abuse |
  8. MJS

    OMG AN EARTHQUAKE...

    Whatever, if that happened here in CA no one would bat an eye. Business as usual people, move along....

    August 23, 2011 at 2:51 pm | Report abuse |
  9. Becca

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    http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqarchives/last_event/states/states_new_york.php

    Earth quake in upstate new york as well. 2.2 magnitude near albany, ny. (which is probably what most of us felt upstate/canada/new england)
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    http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqarchives/last_event/states/states_new_york.php

    Earth quake in upstate new york as well. 2.2 magnitude near albany, ny. (which is probably what most of us felt upstate/canada/new england)
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    http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqarchives/last_event/states/states_new_york.php

    Earth quake in upstate new york as well. 2.2 magnitude near albany, ny. (which is probably what most of us felt upstate/canada/new england)
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    http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqarchives/last_event/states/states_new_york.php

    Earth quake in upstate new york as well. 2.2 magnitude near albany, ny. (which is probably what most of us felt upstate/canada/new england)
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    http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqarchives/last_event/states/states_new_york.php

    Earth quake in upstate new york as well. 2.2 magnitude near albany, ny. (which is probably what most of us felt upstate/canada/new england)
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    http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqarchives/last_event/states/states_new_york.php

    Earth quake in upstate new york as well. 2.2 magnitude near albany, ny. (which is probably what most of us felt upstate/canada/new england)
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    http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqarchives/last_event/states/states_new_york.php

    Earth quake in upstate new york as well. 2.2 magnitude near albany, ny. (which is probably what most of us felt upstate/canada/new england)
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    http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqarchives/last_event/states/states_new_york.php

    Earth quake in upstate new york as well. 2.2 magnitude near albany, ny. (which is probably what most of us felt upstate/canada/new england)
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    http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqarchives/last_event/states/states_new_york.php

    Earth quake in upstate new york as well. 2.2 magnitude near albany, ny. (which is probably what most of us felt upstate/canada/new england)
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    http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqarchives/last_event/states/states_new_york.php

    Earth quake in upstate new york as well. 2.2 magnitude near albany, ny. (which is probably what most of us felt upstate/canada/new england)
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    http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqarchives/last_event/states/states_new_york.php

    Earth quake in upstate new york as well. 2.2 magnitude near albany, ny. (which is probably what most of us felt upstate/canada/new england)
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    http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqarchives/last_event/states/states_new_york.php

    Earth quake in upstate new york as well. 2.2 magnitude near albany, ny. (which is probably what most of us felt upstate/canada/new england)
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    August 23, 2011 at 2:51 pm | Report abuse |
    • Chris

      I felt that obnoxious post more than I felt the quake

      August 23, 2011 at 2:52 pm | Report abuse |
  10. .Lynne

    I felt my house shaking all the way here in NY!! Now the phone is not working and I hear Fire Engines passing. For such a small earthquake, I cannot believe we felt it so severly. Thought the house was getting ready to come down. Now I hear there will be another today. Hope no one is hurt and there is minor damage.

    August 23, 2011 at 2:51 pm | Report abuse |
  11. Rebecca

    Me and Taylor was home alone, we stay in a 3 story house, i was on the top floor and my whole room, desk and mirror shook. it lasted about 30seconds. Taylor also felt it on the 2nd floor. No damage, expect cell phones down.

    August 23, 2011 at 2:51 pm | Report abuse |
  12. unbelievable stuff

    lol, NYC just highjacked Virginia's earthquake. Newsflash it happened in Virginia, NY thinks it owns every disaster.

    August 23, 2011 at 2:51 pm | Report abuse |
    • Chris

      NYC is the country's dramatic little sister who needs the attention more than EVERYBODY ELSE.

      No, just kidding, I know it's where the most people live, so I guess it makes sense.

      August 23, 2011 at 2:54 pm | Report abuse |
  13. Vanessa

    I live in chapel Hill NC. I felt the earth Quake. The building was shaking and the copy machine was shaking.

    August 23, 2011 at 2:51 pm | Report abuse |
  14. Terri

    Felt here...Green Sea, SC near Tabor City, NC

    August 23, 2011 at 2:52 pm | Report abuse |
  15. KDM

    Felt in London, Ontario Canada

    August 23, 2011 at 2:52 pm | Report abuse |
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