Earthquake rolls across Chester County

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Buildings shook from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh and points north Tuesday as a 5.8 magnitude earthquake centered in Virginia rolled across Pennsylvania, causing little damage but giving many their first real taste of a tremor.

The state’s nuclear power plants reported no impact from the quake, which was felt as far north as Toronto, as far west as Indiana and Kentucky and as far south as Atlanta and Savannah, Georgia. The Department of Transportation sent its inspectors to do precautionary checks of bridges across the state, with priority to spans that are at least 200 feet or longer and at least 60 feet high. Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency spokeswoman Ruth Miller said no injuries had been reported in the aftermath of the quake, which hit around 1:50 p.m. and prompted office workers to leave their buildings. The quake was felt in cities across the state, including York, State College, Erie and elsewhere.

Workers poured out of PPL Corp.’s 22-story headquarters in Allentown, the city’s tallest building.”I’ve been here 30 years and I’ve never felt anything like that. It was visibly shaking, things on my walls were shaking, which is a little disconcerting,” PPL spokesman Dan McCarthy said. He said there were no indications of any damage, either to power lines or to the Susquehanna nuclear power plant in northeastern Pennsylvania, but inspectors at the plant were checking to make sure. PPL declared an “unusual event,” the lowest alert level at a nuclear power plant. Unit 1 continued to operate at 100 percent power, while Unit 2 was already offline for routine maintenance. The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake, centered near Louisa, Va., was 3.7 miles beneath the surface. Luckily the earthquake did no severe damage and caused little no no injuries. If you have any insurance questions regarding the earthquake feel free to contact a Kimberley Vassal Insurance Agent today 800.511.9377.

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