MONROE - A strong earthquake in southeast Illinois was felt up to 450 miles away early Friday, including in southwestern Wisconsin.
Temblors were reported all around the upper Midwest, including Milwaukee, Chicago, Cincinnati and Des Moines, Iowa. They were the result of a 5.2-magnitude earthquake in southeastern Illinois.
Jenny Mitchell, Monroe, said she was awake at 4:37 a.m. waiting to let Harry, her cat, back in the house.
"I looked at the clock and thought, oh, it's time to go check on him," Mitchell said.
Mitchell said just as she was leaving the room, she heard the tinkling of a little 2-inch china jewelry box. Mitchell said her first inclination was that a bat had gotten in the room. She turned on the light just as the shaking stopped.
"It must have lasted only 45 seconds," she said.
Seeing no bat, Mitchell proceeded to the door to let Harry in.
"Harry just flew in," she said. "I mean, just flew. I gave him his treat and went to bed."
Later in the morning, Mitchell heard the news on the radio about the quake.
"I knew then that was what it was," she said.
Mitchell said she didn't report the quake because she figured thousands of other people would have reported it.
Some people in Monroe say they felt the quake, but nobody apparently felt the need to report it. The Monroe Police Department and Green County Sheriff's Department had no calls about the shaking. The Pleasant View Nursing Home also had no reports of any shakings. Emergency Management Director Keith Ingwell said he is normally a light sleeper, but never felt any shockwaves.
Radio station WEKZ in Monroe had four or five people calling into the station Friday morning to tell their stories. Operations manager Kent McConnell said the calls from the Monroe and Darlington area have been "quite phenomenal."
"We had guys at the station at the time, and they didn't feel anything," account executive Gary Guralski said.
One county employee, who asked not to be identified, said she and two co-workers were talking about the quake awaking them this morning. One woman said her candle was shaking. The women live in Belleville, Monroe and south of Monroe.
National Weather Service meteorologist Steve Davis says his office received calls from sheriff's departments in Rock, Dane and Kenosha counties looking for information about what happened.
Initially pegged as a 5.4 earthquake, the U.S. Geological Survey revised its estimate to give it a value of 5.2. The quake was centered six miles from West Salem, Ill., and 66 miles from Evansville, Ind.
Diane Strozyk, 65, lives in an apartment in downtown Milwaukee near the lakefront, about 350 miles north of the epicenter. Strozyk says she was sleeping and woke up when the tremor hit about 4:37 a.m.
"I felt the shaking for like 20 seconds. I thought I was dreaming. It was like somebody was shaking the bed," she said.
Ann Brummitt, in the Milwaukee suburb of Shorewood home, thought her golden retriever Max was causing the disturbance.
"I was sleeping and I thought my dog must have been upstairs kicking the bed and scratching," she said. "I couldn't understand why I felt like my bed was moving. The dog doesn't get to come upstairs. I thought he got through."
West Salem is in Edwards County in Southern Illinois, and dispatcher Lucas Griswold says the sheriff's department received several calls about the earthquake but only reports of minor damage and no injuries.
"Oh, yeah, I felt it. It was interesting," Griswold said. "A lot of shaking."
The quake shook skyscrapers in Chicago's Loop, 240 miles north of the epicenter, and in downtown Indianapolis, about 160 miles northeast of the epicenter.
"It shook our house where it woke me up," said David Behm of Philo, 10 miles south of Champaign. "Windows were rattling, and you could hear it. The house was shaking inches. For people in central Illinois, this is a big deal. It's not like California."
Phones started ringing at the Crawford County Sheriff's Department in Robinson, about 15 miles north of the epicenter, but there were no immediate reports of damage, dispatcher Marsha Craven said.
"They didn't know if it was the refinery blowing up or an earthquake," she said, referring to the a local petroleum refinery.
Craven said she's lived in the area her whole life, and felt a handful of earthquakes, but couldn't recall one this big.
In Cincinnati, one woman said she felt something that lasted for up to 20 seconds.
"All of a sudden, I was awakened by this rumbling shaking," said Irvetta McMurtry, 43. "My bed is an older wood frame bed, so the bed started to creak and shake, and it was almost like somebody was taking my mattress and moving it back and forth."
- The Associated Press contributed to this report
Temblors were reported all around the upper Midwest, including Milwaukee, Chicago, Cincinnati and Des Moines, Iowa. They were the result of a 5.2-magnitude earthquake in southeastern Illinois.
Jenny Mitchell, Monroe, said she was awake at 4:37 a.m. waiting to let Harry, her cat, back in the house.
"I looked at the clock and thought, oh, it's time to go check on him," Mitchell said.
Mitchell said just as she was leaving the room, she heard the tinkling of a little 2-inch china jewelry box. Mitchell said her first inclination was that a bat had gotten in the room. She turned on the light just as the shaking stopped.
"It must have lasted only 45 seconds," she said.
Seeing no bat, Mitchell proceeded to the door to let Harry in.
"Harry just flew in," she said. "I mean, just flew. I gave him his treat and went to bed."
Later in the morning, Mitchell heard the news on the radio about the quake.
"I knew then that was what it was," she said.
Mitchell said she didn't report the quake because she figured thousands of other people would have reported it.
Some people in Monroe say they felt the quake, but nobody apparently felt the need to report it. The Monroe Police Department and Green County Sheriff's Department had no calls about the shaking. The Pleasant View Nursing Home also had no reports of any shakings. Emergency Management Director Keith Ingwell said he is normally a light sleeper, but never felt any shockwaves.
Radio station WEKZ in Monroe had four or five people calling into the station Friday morning to tell their stories. Operations manager Kent McConnell said the calls from the Monroe and Darlington area have been "quite phenomenal."
"We had guys at the station at the time, and they didn't feel anything," account executive Gary Guralski said.
One county employee, who asked not to be identified, said she and two co-workers were talking about the quake awaking them this morning. One woman said her candle was shaking. The women live in Belleville, Monroe and south of Monroe.
National Weather Service meteorologist Steve Davis says his office received calls from sheriff's departments in Rock, Dane and Kenosha counties looking for information about what happened.
Initially pegged as a 5.4 earthquake, the U.S. Geological Survey revised its estimate to give it a value of 5.2. The quake was centered six miles from West Salem, Ill., and 66 miles from Evansville, Ind.
Diane Strozyk, 65, lives in an apartment in downtown Milwaukee near the lakefront, about 350 miles north of the epicenter. Strozyk says she was sleeping and woke up when the tremor hit about 4:37 a.m.
"I felt the shaking for like 20 seconds. I thought I was dreaming. It was like somebody was shaking the bed," she said.
Ann Brummitt, in the Milwaukee suburb of Shorewood home, thought her golden retriever Max was causing the disturbance.
"I was sleeping and I thought my dog must have been upstairs kicking the bed and scratching," she said. "I couldn't understand why I felt like my bed was moving. The dog doesn't get to come upstairs. I thought he got through."
West Salem is in Edwards County in Southern Illinois, and dispatcher Lucas Griswold says the sheriff's department received several calls about the earthquake but only reports of minor damage and no injuries.
"Oh, yeah, I felt it. It was interesting," Griswold said. "A lot of shaking."
The quake shook skyscrapers in Chicago's Loop, 240 miles north of the epicenter, and in downtown Indianapolis, about 160 miles northeast of the epicenter.
"It shook our house where it woke me up," said David Behm of Philo, 10 miles south of Champaign. "Windows were rattling, and you could hear it. The house was shaking inches. For people in central Illinois, this is a big deal. It's not like California."
Phones started ringing at the Crawford County Sheriff's Department in Robinson, about 15 miles north of the epicenter, but there were no immediate reports of damage, dispatcher Marsha Craven said.
"They didn't know if it was the refinery blowing up or an earthquake," she said, referring to the a local petroleum refinery.
Craven said she's lived in the area her whole life, and felt a handful of earthquakes, but couldn't recall one this big.
In Cincinnati, one woman said she felt something that lasted for up to 20 seconds.
"All of a sudden, I was awakened by this rumbling shaking," said Irvetta McMurtry, 43. "My bed is an older wood frame bed, so the bed started to creak and shake, and it was almost like somebody was taking my mattress and moving it back and forth."
- The Associated Press contributed to this report