Earthquake Rocks East Coast

Residents all over Norristown and the surrounding areas felt the earth move shortly before 2 p.m. this afternoon. Most noted the tremors with a fair amount of confusion as many area residents had never experienced an earthquake in our region.Norristown Patch readers who follow us on Facebook and Twitter were alerted to the quake within minutes.

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) reports that the 5.8 magnitude quake was centered in Virginia approximately 27 miles east of Charlottesville, Virginia, but due to the geological makeup of the east coast, tremors could be felt as far north as Boston, Mass.

In Norristown, the was briefly evacuated but was soon reopened and continued with business as usual. Reports of startled workers from other local offices like the trickled in but no serious damage had been reported in the Norristown area.

While no serious damage has been reported in our area, commuters will still have to contend with the after effects as some SEPTA lines are experiencing delays of up to an hour. The Airport, Trenton, Wilmington, Chestnut Hill West, Paoli/Thorndale and Cynwyd lines are among those reporting delays.

PennDOT dispatched crews to inspect local bridges and tunnels shortly after the tremors subsided, but no significant road or bridge closures have been reported so far.

Our friends at report that Limerick Generating Station Site Communications Manager Joe Szafran has reported to Patch that the power plant is safe after the earthquake.

"The units are operating online safely," Szafran told Patch. "Right now, when we experience a seismic event like we did, we have procedures that we follow that include a lock-down of plant equipment. We are in the middle of getting that started and doing that as we speak. The plant is continuing to operate safely throughout the event and are still operating safely at full power and 100-percent. That's where we're at now."

According the USGS, today's quake was the largest in this area in over 100 years. That one was a 5.9 quake on May 31, 1897 that was felt in 12 states.