I'm used to rattling windows. Here in St. Louis, we are the regular recipients of thunderstorms, strong winds, and tornado warnings which can arise unexpectedly in the middle of the night. So, when the sound of rattling windows awakened me around 4:30 this morning, it took a few seconds for me to become fully awake and certain that my bed really was shaking, as was the whole house!
Are we having an earthquake, I wondered? No, no...this is St. Louis...it must be really strong winds....but that roar...and the shaking...it must be really close! I went upstairs to check on and awaken my boys to send them to the basement, but they were already awake. Whatever it was, it had startled them as well. Even as I sent them downstairs, I was uncertain about what was happening. I looked out the windows and saw no signs of significant winds...I ran to the basement to check the internet to see what might be happening...nothing. Could this actually be an earthquake? I know we are sitting on a huge fault, but what the heck am I supposed to do? I don't even know, but going to the basement would definitely be the wrong move! Where is that native Californian husband of mine when I need him? He'd know what to do!
The rattling of the windows finally ceased, but oddly, the dishes in my old wardrobe continued to vibrate noisily. Then I knew. This IS indeed an earthquake! It could be nothing else. From the time I awakened, the tremors lasted well over a minute and varied from moment to moment in intensity.
Long after the earthly tremors ceased, the physical effect of waking to an unknown, and the ensuing adrenaline rush, meant that my bodily tremors continued for quite some time. Go back to bed? Sleep? I don't think so.
As I sent the boys back to bed, I turned on KMOX. They were taking calls from person after person who had felt the same as we had. 5 minutes later, it was official. The earthquake's epicenter was 127 miles east of St. Louis in Illinois and registered 5.4 on the Richter scale and was felt as far away as Chicago, Milwaukee and Cincinnati!
Did you feel this morning's earthquake? Report it here.
Well, that's enough excitement for one day. Now that I know what happened and know it's over, I think I'll try to go back to sleep.
13 comments:
Whoa. Thanks for the info. I thought it might be a rain storm "rattling" the front porch shingles just outside my bedroom window. Woke me up, but then I heard nothing.
R.W.
Is that you, bro? That was the freakiest thing I've ever experienced!
So, no rumble there, eh? It was LOUD here!
Yes, "bro" of PRPC, and other "related" categories. Oh yes, PLENTY of rumble, but I must have been really tired or "added the noise" to a dream or something.
R.W.
OH....you've never signed RW before and those are my blood brothers intials, you know.
Lucky you, sleeping through it.
I posted my "experience" on my blog, too. Even though we had a couple earthquakes while we were in Seattle, it is still pretty strange.
I had a similar experience to yours in that my heartrate was racing! I could not go back to sleep for a long time either. I would say the tremors lasted for about 3 minutes, some very strong.
I remember at least 2 other St Louis earthquakes, one when I was about 8 or 9, and the other in 1982 or '83. The latter one was in the middle of the night, too-quite freaky.
Debbie -
I'm so glad someone verified that it lasted a while! Most people are saying 20-30 seconds total...I thought it was much longer, so I re-traced my actions and steps...it was definitely 1-2 minutes.
And we just now had an aftershock. I heard the windows rattle, then looked at last night's glass of wine and the wine was moving in the glass!
What? You left wine in your glass?
I tell you...that in itself was an earth-shattering event! Maybe I'm terminally ill.
Definitely better take your temperature and lie down for a while...
No offense to either Mrs. Waggoners
Did you feel anything about 12:30 last night (aka this morning)? I felt a slight tremor for only a few seconds.
I didn't feel a thing! Steve said it was the 15th aftershock and registered over 4 on the Richter Scale, but I slept right through it.
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