'Felt Like A Big Trash Hauler,' Earthquake In NC Felt States Away

SPARTA, NC — A 5.1 magnitude earthquake, among the strongest ever to hit the southeastern states, was reported in North Carolina Sunday morning. The United States Geological Survey said it had a 3.7 kilometer depth when it occurred at 8:07 a.m.

The earthquake's epicenter was near Sparta, 4 kilometers away in Alleghany County and just a few miles from North Carolina's border with Virginia.

>>>ALSO ON PATCH: No Damage Reports After Earthquake Hits Western North Carolina

The Sunday morning shock was the strongest earthquake to hit North Carolina since 1916 and tied for the strongest to hit the Carolina states ever, the USGS has stated.

"Since at least 1776, people living inland in North and South Carolina, and in adjacent parts of Georgia and Tennessee, have felt small earthquakes and suffered damage from infrequent larger ones. The largest earthquake in the area (magnitude 5.1) occurred in 1916."

It occurred "as a result of oblique-reverse faulting in the upper crust of the North American plate," according to a tectonic summary from the USGS.

"Focal mechanism solutions for the event indicate rupture occurred on a moderately dipping fault either striking to the northwest or south."

Sunday's shock could be felt in several nearby states, according to many reports. A WPDE ABC-15 reporter says it was felt by some in parts across the eastern half of the United States.

The magnitude 5.1 #earthquake in Sparta, N.C. this morning at 8:07am was felt from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico and from the Plains to the east coast. That's incredible! #scwx #ncwx pic.twitter.com/52pGN80ozb
— Ed Piotrowski (@EdPiotrowski) August 9, 2020

Mohana Pad, who lives just outside Philadelphia, told Patch she was on the second floor of her home when it "felt like a big trash hauler came by."

"It was just for a few seconds and I wondered why those trucks would come on a Sunday."

Closer to the epicenter in Statesville, Jennifer DiFiore said "it startled me because I thought someone or something may be trying to get in my house."

Bonnie Lofton said her son, James felt it while at Virginia Tech University with his wife, Mary. He sent this text message to family members:

"We felt this! We couldn't figure out what was going on. Mary got up and asked me if that was an earthquake. I thought something had fallen in the house and walked all over."

Four smaller foreshocks occurred within the last 25 hours before the Sunday morning earthquake, according to the USGS.

Reports of people feeling the seismic event in Charlotte, Raleigh and other North Carolina cities and towns were shared with the National Weather Service - Wilmington Twitter account, although the local NWS said neither of the two people inside their office at the time of the quake could feel it themselves.

Another Twitter user said she would have no idea last week, while standing in the middle of a hurricane, that a week later she'd be awoken by an earthquake.

"Who had this on their 2020 Bingo card?" another asked.

Experiences were also shared on local Patch sites in North Carolina.

"My first earthquake," Leslie Quatrini wrote on a Davidson Patch neighbor post.

"At about 8:09 a.m. on Sunday, August 9 I think we experienced an earthquake in Davidson Pointe. Several residents report feeling it. So weird."

Davidson, just north of Charlotte, is about 80 miles south of the earthquake's epicenter in western North Carolina.

Data from the USGS shows those in the northern part of North Carolina felt it at light to moderate levels. It was felt from weak to light levels in many areas of Virginia, South Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia. Some in West Virginia, Kentucky and other states also reported noticing it.