4.7 Magnitude Earthquake Recorded Off Coast, Felt on Long Island

A 4.7 magnitude earthquake was recorded Tuesday evening off the coast of Ocean City, Md., but the effects of it were felt in several states. At least two people on Long Island say they felt the earthquake around 6:30 p.m., according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The USGC said the quake was at a depth of 10 kilometers, or 6.2 miles, about 136 miles off the coastline.

There were no reports of damage in the Tuesday quake. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration also did not report any tsunami activity off the East Coast. According to the USGS website, 271 responses were logged saying the earthquake had been felt. About nine people in New York say they felt the quake, including residents in Great Neck and Westbury.

Did you feel the earthquake? Tell us in the comments and submit your own report to the USGC here.

Earthquakes happen when there is movement below the Earth's surface on fault lines. They can occur anywhere in the U.S. and usually last less than a minute, according to FEMA.

Most recently in the Mid-Atlantic region, two small earthquakes rumbled the Goochland, Va., area on Nov. 9, the same region where the 5.8 earthquake in August 2011 originated and caused damage the Washington Monument in Washington D.C.

The first 2.4 magnitude earthquake occurred at 11:25 a.m. about 23 miles west northwest of Richmond, while a second quake nearby came about 20 minutes later and was recorded as a magnitude 2.5, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

A quake on Nov. 30, 2017, about 6 miles northeast of Dover, Delaware, was felt on Long Island. The initial report was for a 4.4-magnitude quake but the USGS later scaled it back to 4.1.

"The water in my glass was moving and I looked over and my space heater was rocking slightly. It lasted about eight seconds," Alexandra Schumm, who was working in her third-floor office in Manhasset, told Patch after the 2017 quake.

With reporting by Tom Davis and Deb Belt

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