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. John

    Normal for the west coast sure, but the east coast is extremely stable in comparison because the mountain regions are much older geologically, much more settled. That's why a 5.9 is newsworthy here. That's also why I myself do NOT live on the west coast, even though I love it. This is "normal" for you people but it sure isn't anything to brag or get snotty about.

    August 23, 2011 at 7:21 pm | Report abuse |
  2. John

    Btw, I also felt it here in Raleigh, NC.

    August 23, 2011 at 7:21 pm | Report abuse |
  3. daniell

    i was just saying the same thing when i was talking to a customer in my bar after the quake...what are the possibilities of that?

    August 23, 2011 at 7:24 pm | Report abuse |
  4. john

    for all those idiots that keep saying california has arthquakes all the time, well we on the east coast don't our bridges, homes, buildings nothing is prepared for earthquakes here, so a 5.9 yeah that's news! Plus we get it worse because we are on one big plate, the whole easy coast shakes not just some piece of the pie here...

    August 23, 2011 at 7:30 pm | Report abuse |
  5. itsbetsy

    @the world. I was just lying down to nap & feeling guilty for it. Then the bed started to sway. I thought I was has having some sort of seizure! I have Multiple Sclerosis & am just getting over a kidney infection so it's not that far fetched. I had to laugh when I noticed the window blinds swaying for about 45 seconds. Pretty sure window blinds are not subject to seizures. BTW. I am way up in Albany NY.

    August 23, 2011 at 7:35 pm | Report abuse |
  6. Dave S.

    Good one to talk. This coming from a state where many areas if they get an inch of snow will grind to a standstill because they can't handle something so simple...

    August 23, 2011 at 7:36 pm | Report abuse |
    • Wzrd1

      Yeah, because snow is SO common there! Why, it's as common as zombie invasions!
      How prepared is YOUR area for both a 8.0 earthquake AND a massive sandstorm?
      Philadelphia was picked on because it couldn't handle a miserable three feet of snow. Which happens LESS than once a century.
      Everyone wants to spend someone elses money. Not caring about what ACTUALLY happens in that area.
      OK, Florida must buy a fleet of snow plows.
      Alaska must prepare for sandstorms and heat waves over 120 degrees.
      As realistic as your idiocy.

      August 24, 2011 at 12:38 am | Report abuse |
  7. Guest

    I really wish CNN (television) would stop billing this quake as 'shaking the Northeast.' I am sure it was felt in the north, but VA is in the Mid-Atlantic. What is wrong with "Mid-Atlantic rocked by quake?" The earthquake is ultimately minor news, though scarily centered near the North Anna Nuclear Station. We should all be watching this incoming hurricane, IMO...

    August 23, 2011 at 7:42 pm | Report abuse |
    • Wzrd1

      The last time I checked, NJ, PA and NY are in the northeast. NJ and Philadelphia had damage from the earthquake.

      August 23, 2011 at 9:06 pm | Report abuse |
  8. all shook up

    Liberals just named today's VA earthquake the "bush fault". lol.

    August 23, 2011 at 7:51 pm | Report abuse |
  9. Guest

    I live 20 minutes away from mineral...it was scary stuff. But I wouldn't say that CNN really needs to focus this much on it...especially since they aren't focusing on any of the structure damage Mineral endoured...

    August 23, 2011 at 8:02 pm | Report abuse |
    • Wzrd1

      Do an ireport on it. We'd like to hear how the folks in that area fared, as THEY got the heaviest part of it.

      August 23, 2011 at 9:07 pm | Report abuse |
  10. Mmmmm

    I wished I had a penny for each comment...So the East Coast of US of A another great place for a milk shake...lol!

    August 23, 2011 at 8:03 pm | Report abuse |
  11. Mary

    Just had after shock in Glen Allen (Richmond) VA!

    August 23, 2011 at 8:05 pm | Report abuse |
    • Wzrd1

      We didn't feel that one up north, as it was a 4.2. The other aftershocks were 2.2 and 2.8, which you probably didn't feel.

      August 23, 2011 at 9:09 pm | Report abuse |
  12. Mmmmm

    🙠everybody felt it except me...!

    August 23, 2011 at 8:07 pm | Report abuse |
  13. Mmmmm

    Do it again! Do it again! Do it again earthquake...I wanna play shake and bake, too-oo! 🙂

    August 23, 2011 at 8:14 pm | Report abuse |
  14. Robert Presnell

    I was in Stuarts Draft, VA at my daughters house. I had laid down on the bed to watch TV. All of a sudden I thought a train was coming by but there is no train tracks near by. Then there was a rumble and the bed starting shacking and the ceiling fan starting swaying and BANG, it was rock & roll time. It lasted about 30 seconds and it really shock the house. I got up and thought either I'm having a bad dream or we just had a earth quake!

    August 23, 2011 at 8:20 pm | Report abuse |
    • Wzrd1

      We're just south of Philly and I was reading about the Colorado earthquake when suddenly my arms were pulsing on the table. I first thought that something was badly wrong with me, then I noticed the laptop display bouncing, then noticed my water in the water bottle was shaking.
      Then, I figured out it was an earthquake.
      My wife thought that her legs were giving out on her, due to nerve damage in the back and was leaning against the wall to keep her balance.
      No noises from the house, nothing fell, etc.
      Our oldest daughter, two miles away, heard loud cracking noises coming from the walls of her house.
      I'm guessing that the thick clay that our foundation is resting on helped cushion us a bit.

      August 23, 2011 at 9:13 pm | Report abuse |
  15. Mark

    I was in the operating room performing surgery when we all heard a rattle in the background, the doors and light fixtures began to shake. We quickly pulled our instruments out of the patient and waited as the shaking stopped. It was all our first experience with an earthquake...was pretty cool!

    August 23, 2011 at 8:22 pm | Report abuse |
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