Magnitude 5.8 Quake Hits Western Montana (UPDATED)
Hmmm, not too far from Yellowstone National Park…interesting indeed!
ABCnews:
Two strong earthquakes have hit western Montana.
The U.S. Geological Survey says a magnitude 5.8 earthquake struck early Thursday about 6 miles (9.7 kilometers) southeast of Lincoln.
A magnitude 4.5 quake rattled the same general area within a half-hour of the bigger one.
The Independent Record reports ( http://bit.ly/2tjvI12 ) that people felt the magnitude 5.8 earthquake as far away as Bozeman, Idaho, and Great Falls.
A 76-year-old resident of Helena, which is about 34 miles away from the quake’s epicenter, said it was the strongest seismic activity that he had ever felt.
Ray Anderson said his wife told him the temblor woke up the dogs.
There were no immediate reports of injuries or damages.
(UPDATED PORTION) GlobalNews Reports:
An earthquake strong enough to rouse sleeping residents more than 48 kilometres from its epicenter struck western Montana early Thursday, with reports it was even felt as far north as Calgary.
The magnitude 5.8 earthquake hit just after midnight about 9.7 kilometres southeast of Lincoln, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. There were no immediate reports of injuries.
Residents in Lincoln briefly lost power and there was a gas leak in Helena, the National Weather Service in Great Falls said on Twitter.
The Independent Record reports that people felt the quake as far away as Bozeman, Idaho, and Great Falls.
Ray Anderson, 76, tells The Associated Press that it was the strongest seismic activity he had ever felt while living in Helena, which is about 34 miles away from the quake’s epicenter.
He said his wife told him the temblor woke up the dogs. Musician John Mayer, a part-time Bozeman resident, took to Twitter to marvel at the event.
“Wow,” he wrote on Twitter. “Earthquake in Montana.”
Wow. Earthquake in Montana. So if you wonder if you're crazy and you're searching the words earthquake and Montana, earthquake Montana.
— John Mayer (@JohnMayer) July 6, 2017
There have been more than 70 quakes measuring larger than 4.5 in Montana and parts of Wyoming and Idaho since 1925, according to the USGS. The largest quake in state history was magnitude 7.2 in 1959 near west Yellowstone.
Calgary residents feel the shake: ‘I didn’t think Calgary could get earthquakes’
Calgarian Shelley Harley, who lives in the community of McKenzie Lake, told Global News it was shortly after midnight on Thursday when she felt the earthquake.
“I was actually on my iPad and had the TV off … and then all of a sudden I felt the couch that I was sitting on start shaking and moving.”
“I looked around and I thought ‘that’s kind of weird’ and I looked up and noticed that my TV was shaking.”
Jul 6th, 2017 12:33am earthquake pic.twitter.com/92EpeVbXuu
— Li (@Lisoloist) July 6, 2017
“It was enough that the couch was moving, and I was moving and the TV was moving… I actually felt sort of off-kilter.”
Harley said she didn’t understand what was causing her home to shake.
“I even looked outside to see if it was the wind.”
“This is really strange. It feels like everything is shaking and moving.”
“I was in an earthquake once in Mexico many, many years ago but I’ve never experienced anything like this in Calgary,” she said.
“I didn’t think Calgary could get earthquakes. I didn’t even think that it was an earthquake.”
Harley said the shaking lasted about eight to 12 seconds.
“I know now that we can feel earthquakes here in Calgary.”
— With files from Dallas Flexhaug and Melissa Gilligan
© 2017 The Associated Press
