Crime & Safety

Earthquake Felt in Pearl River, Epicenter in Northern Virginia

Police and fire authorities are on alert. Orange and Rockland is reporting no damage or loss of service related to the quake. UPDATE with further information.

Mike Donovan was conducting an interview in the Orange and Rockland offices on the fourth floor of Blue Hill Plaza when he felt the earthquake that shook the area ta 1:55 p.m. Tuesday.

"I was doing an interview on the phone and my handwriting started to scribble," Donovan said. "I thought my hand was shaking. Turns out the building was shaking. I was relieved at that."

The quake's epicenter was northwest of Richmond, Virginia, and U.S. geological officials are saying it had a 5.8 magnitude. In the metropolitan area—including Pearl River—the quake was about a 2.2, sources are reporting.

Find out what's happening in Pearl Riverwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Donovan said there are no reports of damage of service interruptions at Orange and Rockland.

"It was brief," Donovan said. "We interrupted work here for a few minutes, realized we all felt it and went back to work."

Find out what's happening in Pearl Riverwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Alanna Heraghty, a Pearl River resident who writes for Patch, also felt the effects.

"It felt like a wave," Heraghty said. "I was sitting own and I thought I was going to fall off my chair, like the room wobbled or I had vertigo."

Orangetown Police and the Nyack Fire Department are both out in full, checking of residents and seeking out any possible damage. David Brockway, an officer with Orangetown Police, has been on the force for about five years—and has never responded to an earthquake in the area.

His surprise was echoed by Richard Kavesh, Nyack's Mayor. "Nyack is on really firm ground, you don't expect this," he said.

The earthquake was felt up and down the east coast, authorities are reporting, and as far north as Toronto. In Westchester, one Patch employee shares her experience:

"It was a strange sensation," said Lanning Taliaferro, associate regional editor for Patch.com, who was at the Tuscan Grille in Briarcliff Manor when she felt the tremor. "It felt like a bump from below. I thought maybe a truck dropped something outside the restaurant."

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has released a statement saying that the "state is initiating comprehensive reviews of critical and sensitive infrastructure including the state’s hydroelectric plants, nuclear power plants, key bridges and tunnels, and other assets."

Cuomo said he is "getting regular reports from agencies all over the state and at this time there are no reports of damage or power outages."

Earthquakes can be followed additional tremors called aftershocks.

"Aftershocks will happen," Seismologist Meredith Nettles said. "And it's not unheard of to have a second quake that's equal or greater than the first, but it's unlikely."

Metro North reports commuter trains and subways have not been affected.

For tips and terms to know from the Rockland County Office of Fire and Emergency Services, look here.

More information from emergency services in Rockland County can be found here.

Editor's note: Kevin Zawacki contributed to this report.

Editor's note: The magnitude of the earthquake was downgraded from the initial 5.9 to 5.8.


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