Hundreds in and around the D.C. Metro area have reported a small earthquake between Gaithersburg and Rockville, according to data from the U.S. Geological Survey.
Hundreds in and around the D.C. Metro area have reported feeling the effects of a small earthquake between Gaithersburg and Rockville, Maryland, according to data from the U.S. Geological Survey. Here’s what you need to know.
Preliminary information reviewed by the agency puts the earthquake at a magnitude of 2.3, with more than 200 individuals reporting feeling a rumbling or loud noise. The magnitude of earthquake is often considered small, but startled some residents in the middle of the night.
WTOP listeners throughout the region, including those living in Northwest D.C. and Montgomery, Prince George’s and Howard County, Maryland, reported shaking just before 1 a.m. on Tuesday.
“I’m in Kensington, Maryland, and felt/heard what seemed like an earthquake,” one listener writes to WTOP. “Rumbling and a big boom lasting about maybe 10 seconds about 20 minutes ago.”
Another listener said they felt shaking in Darnestown.
“The whole house shook. My wife and I jumped out of bed all confused and scared not knowing what is going on,” they said. “Very scary. Windows shook.”
Paul from Olney said he felt a boom early this morning, and so did his son.
“I remember the earthquake we had a few years ago, and I was a little bit lower down in my house,” he told WTOP. “And I remember it felt a little bit different than this. This was definitely a little bit stronger.”
Earthquakes aren’t uncommon along Maryland’s fault lines, WTOP meteorologist Chad Merrill said, after a 2.0 magnitude earthquake shook parts of Sykesville in October of 2022.
“There are actually several fault lines in Maryland that are capable of triggering earthquakes,” he said.
“I was just sitting down in the chair and I felt a little bit of dizziness,” said a convenience store employee who felt the earthquake from the store he works at on Darnestown Road in North Potomac.
He said he’s from Nepal and that he was surprised at how much he felt the earthquake on Tuesday. “I was like, ‘something is happening.’”
Local officials have not released statements on the earthquake nor reports of related damage.
WTOP has reached out to officials with the U.S. Geological Survey for additional information on the event.
This is a developing story. Stick with WTOP for the latest.
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