The tremors of a 5.9 magnitude earthquake that hit Virginia Tuesday afternoon could be felt around the Caldwells where bewildered residents exchanged phone calls to ask, did you feel that?
The earthquake is reported to have occurred outside of Washington, D.C. at 1:51 p.m., and could be felt all the way to New York, according to the USGS.
Megan McLeod, 18, said she was sitting at her kitchen in her Westover Avenue home in Caldwell when she felt her chair and then the table tremble. when she looked up, she noticed the mirror on the dining room wall shaking.
“My first thought was it was an earthquake, but then I thought I was being ridiculous,” McLeod said.
McLeod’s dog Jake was outside begging to come in and was upset for a few minutes before settling down, she said. But about 15 minutes later the dog once again became upset.
“People always say dogs can sense when things are happening or about to happen,” she said.
Meanwhile, at Jersey Mac’s on Bloomfield Avenue in Caldwell, a restaurant owned by her father, two women having lunch stopped their conversation when they felt the tremors.
Meryl Ravitz of New York City told her friend Joan Hillman of Caldwell that she felt something, and Hillman confirmed that she felt it, too.
“I used to live in California so I know it was an earthquake, because I know earthquakes, I’ve felt them before,” said Hillman, a former resident of San Francisco.
Hillman’s husband called her on her cell phone from New York City to let her know that he was okay but that he was being evacuated from his offices at 30 Rockefeller Center.
While people throughout the county reported feeling the quake and shaking furniture in their homes and offices, some did not feel the subtle tremors.
“I can’t believe I didn’t feel it. I’m disappointed,” said Robert McLeod, Megan’s father. The owner of Jersey Mac’s was just a few yards away in the back of the restaurant from where patrons could feel the earth move. “I feel like I’m missing out.”
McLeod said he remembers feeling a quake in New Jersey about 20 years ago.
Caldwell Police Det. Sgt. Anthony Marta confirmed that the quake was felt at the police headquarters on Provost Square.
“I think we had one of these things 10 years ago,” Marta said. “We just don’t see if frequently.”
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