East Coast Earthquake Moves Lindenhurst

The earth did move under Lindenhurst ’ feet Tuesday afternoon, but thankfully the sky didn’t come tumbling down, like in the Carole King song.

The 5.8-magnitude East Coast earthquake that was centered in Virginia just before 2 p.m. Tuesday was felt mostly by those Lindy residents who were inside buildings.

That was the case at , and, as a result, the building was evacuated.

“We were erring on the side of caution because an earthquake like this is quite an unusual occurrence in this area,” said town spokesperson Tim Ruggeri, who like many others, didn’t realize what was happening until he saw coat hangers swaying in his office.

“Once we figured out what was going on and figured out that there probably weren’t going to be any larger aftershocks, we let everyone back inside,” he said, adding that there were no reports from workers in the field of any damage, and that there were no constituent calls reporting damage.

“The phones have been quiet,” Ruggeri said.

At the , Director Peter Ward said it was felt there, too.

“We felt something – very little. But we didn’t evacuate because we felt it would’ve created more of a panic if we did,” he said.

Those at felt the quake, too, and several of the employees there reported feeling the building sway, especially on the second floor.

One woman who saw the wall next to her desk start to sway said, “I never felt anything like that before.”

She and several other employees were told to move downstairs, and were let back upstairs about 10 minutes later.

Another village hall employee, Maria Aenlle was outside in her car when the quake hit.

“The whole car shook. It was as if someone was jumping up and down on the rear bumper, trying to play a joke,” said Aenlle, who added that she was happy her husband had gotten home and wasn’t on one of the bridges coming home from work in the city.

Deputy Village Administrator Doug Madlon was outside and reported that the handicap ramp he was standing on next door at shook underneath him.

Crystal Walls, a resident who stopped into Village Hall, said she felt it at home.

“I was lying on my couch when the whole apartment kept shaking,” she said.

In North Lindenhurst walls of houses and local businesses swayed, as well, causing similar reaction among residents on August 23.

However, not everyone felt the earth move. It seems that many who were driving or simply outside enjoying the summer sun didn’t feel a thing.

Kathy Rubin was at and in the having some quiet time with her grandson Peter James. But she didn’t feel a thing, she said.

“We felt nothing,” she said. “We fed the ducks some bread, and they came over.”

Her husband, Douglas, was surprised that there was no animal reaction. He’d been driving to Premier Care in North Lindenhurst, and reported not feeling the quake either.

Donna Hochman, who works at Village Hall and is also the Lindenhurst Board of Education vice president, was at home in south Lindenhurst at the time of quake. She reported feeling nothing either closer to the water.

And after speaking briefly with Superintendent Richard Nathan, who was at a conference at Western Suffolk BOCES, she further relayed that he’d received no reports of damage or incident at the schools, thus far.