5.9 Earthquake Shakes Severn

Update: 3:11 p.m. - Severn residents were shaken to their core Tuesday afternoon for about 30 seconds after a category 5.9 earthquake rumbled through Maryland, Virginia and other East Coast states. 

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Tracy Spriggs, 46, was in her home checking Facebook when the quake started to shake her home. 

"There was a rumble and I thought it was a big truck going by," Spriggs said. "Then it kept doing it and I ran outside."

"When I checked the news, they said it was like a 5.8 and people in Toronto felt it," she said. 

Spriggs and more than a dozen neighbors ran outside holding their loved ones, unsure of what would happen next. 

"I ran out in my pajamas and grabbed my bath robe," Spriggs said. "I'm shaking, no pun intended. It was scary." 

Over at Arundel Mills mall, shoppers apparently thought the earthquake was an explosion at the Maryland LIVE! construction site.

"Everyone in Burlington Coat Factory thought it was an explosion from the construction in the same parking lot," said local shopper Kat Eltzroth. "My mom and I ran out the door and noticed a steel beam in the work zone was dropped." 

"No one came over the loud speaker," Eltzroth said.

The earthquake caused additional problems for administrators of local schools. Meade High School was evacuated and currently Anne Arundel County Fire Department personnel are checking the building.

Bob Mosier, the spokesman for Anne Arundel County Schools, also released this statement:

All school buildings were evacuated and students are re-entering as buildings are being cleared. High school buses were dismissed on a normal schedule and at this time we anticipate middle and elementary schools dismissing at the normal times. As a precaution,  all activities in AACPS buildings this evening, including athletics and school-age child care, are canceled.