| 4/18/2008 3:00:00 PM | Email this article • Print this article |
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| “It’s like someone grabbed your bed and shook it really good. My bed shook about three seconds.” Charles Horton (Staff photo by Ken Ritchie) |
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| “It made a lot of racket. I thought it was the guys working in the basement. We really didn’t know what was happening.”
Jean Humphrey, who was walking at the Brown Gym (Staff photo by Ken Ritchie) |
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Waking to a Quake
Incident was a first for many
Sara Denhart
Courier Staff Writer
Courierarea residents were awakened today with the feeling that the Earth was shaking, but very few residents were sure what had happened during the 30 seconds of movement.
Kent resident Charles Horton was lying in bed when he woke up a minute before the earthquake hit shortly after 5:30 a.m.
"It's like someone grabbed your bed and shook it really good," Horton said. "My bed shook about three seconds."
The earthquake, which the National Earthquake Center said had a preliminary strength of 5.4, was centered six miles west of Mount Carmel, Ill., which is near the Indiana state line between Evansville and Vincennes. It was felt in such distant cities as Chicago, Cincinnati, Milwaukee and Des Moines, Iowa, about 450 miles northwest of the epicenter.
Horton said his two cockatiels were going crazy during the Midwest temblor. Even though he felt the earthquake's rumbles, Horton was still unsure what had just happened and called his wife to be sure she felt it, too.
"My wife was baby-sitting this morning in Hanover," Horton said. "I called her and she felt it, too."
Sue Skelton was startled by the quake at her home about two miles west of Dupont on Jake Gayle Road.
"I woke up and the bed was jiggling and the handles on the dresser were jiggling, and it went on for about two minutes. I thought I had a ghost!" Skelton said, laughing.
Skelton, who moved to Jefferson County a couple of years ago and was not here to experience a 4.0 magnitude quake in 2005, said she initially thought one of the family pets was kicking up a ruckus.
"I didn't have any real damage, but it's the strongest one that I've ever felt," Skelton said.
Madison resident Jean Humphrey was walking with several other people at the Brown Gym on Broadway during the earthquake. She walks each morning and walks about two miles.
"It made a lot of racket," Humphrey said. "I thought it was the guys working in the basement. We really didn't know what was happening."
It was not until Wilbur Wilson, who works at the gym, told the early-morning walkers that an earthquake had occurred that they knew what had happened.
"His chair moved," Humphrey said. "We didn't know it was an earthquake until Wilbur turned on the TV."
Across the river in Kentucky, Bedford resident James Burton and Milton resident Kevin Hudson also felt the earthquake.
"It's scary," Burton said. "I've never been through one."
When the earthquake began at about 5:37 a.m., Burton said he put his feet on the floor and felt the ground moving.
"I just felt it," Burton said. "It jarred the building. I thought it was a wind storm."
Burton looked out his apartment window to see what was happening.
"I never felt like this in my life," Burton said.
Meanwhile, Hudson was at his home watching the pictures on his walls shaking.
"I thought, 'What in the world is going on?'" Hudson said. "My 12-year-old daughter thought it was cool."
When the men crossed the Madison-Milton bridge they were not too worried that the nearly 80-year-old bridge might have sustained damage.
"I kind of still wonder," Hudson said about the bridge's condition.
Horton, Humphrey, Hudson and Burton all were at Hammond Family Restaurant later in the morning, where they talked about the earthquake.
The Madison Police Department, the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department, the Jefferson County Emergency Management Office, the Madison Consolidated Schools, Southwestern Schools, Vectren gas company, the city utilities office and the Carrollton, Ky., Police Department reported no damage. Public agencies received many calls from residents wondering what had happened.
Ray Wilson, manager of the Indiana-Kentucky Electric Corp. Clifty Creek power station said there was no damage to the new construction or the existing operations at the electrical plant.
"We did see it on our environmental monitors. There were spikes on the monitors," Wilson said. "We're in good shape."
Other area utilities companies did not report any damage.
"I felt the quake this morning, and the guy I work with called me right after that to say that he'd felt it, too." Rob Kring of the Canaan Water Co. said. "We've not experienced any problems with our system that we know of, but we make the rounds every morning and we'll be looking at things a lot more closely today to make sure there are no leaks or anything."
Marvin Jenkins, public information officer for the Indiana Department of Transportation, said the state has dispatched crews to inspect bridges, roads and any buildings they are responsible for. So far, INDOT has not had any reported problems or calls from the public.
Dave Ommen, King's Daughters' Hospital community relations spokesman, said a few employees felt the effects of the earthquake. However, he did not remember any movement at home.
Hospital employees walked the grounds this morning looking for damage, but so far, no signs of damage or malfunctions in equipment have occurred.
"We have a procedure for external disasters," Ommen said. "We have redundant back-up systems to keep vital systems and other equipment running in case of electrical outages."
Ommen said the hospital also has a few days' supply of water in case of disaster and is prepared for internal or external disasters.
"We have things in place," Ommen said.
The most damaging Indiana earthquake originating within the state occurred Sept. 27, 1909, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The earthquake started near the Illinois border between Vincennes and Terre Haute. The earthquake was strong in Indianapolis and Oakland City and was felt over an area of 30,000 square miles.
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Courier Sports Editor Mark Campbell and reporter Justin Helfrich contributed to this report.
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Reader Comments
Posted: Friday, April 18, 2008
Article comment by:
bubba lee
What happened to the good ol days when everyone would've immediately assumed something like this was terror related?
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