Virginia Earthquake Reaches Pelham, New Rochelle

The ground beneath the feet of Pelham and New Rochelle residents and workers literally shook Tuesday afternoon at about 1:55 p.m. when an earthquake hit the area.

Lois Soccodato was working at her father's shop, Village Wine and Liquor in Pelham, when the shelves started shaking above her. She said the shaking only took place for seconds. But they were some of the longest seconds she has ever experienced.

"I really didn't know what it was," Soccodato said. "We have an apartment building above us. But the longer I thought about it and the longer it lasted, the more I realized that it wasn't someone hammering upstairs."  

The quake's epicenter was northwest of Richmond, VA, and U.S. geological officials are saying it was a 5.8 magnitude quake. In the metropolitan area—including New Rochelle—the quake was about a 2.2, sources are reporting.

New Rochelle's Assistant City Manager Omar Small said he did not feel the quake in his City Hall office.

He said he has not been told of any local damage.

"We are monitoring the situation and we will be ready to respond" if there are any aftershocks, Small said.

Jerry Nappi, Indian Point Energy Center spokesperson, said both reactors are operating normally at full power.

"There are no reports of any damage on site," he said.

The earthquake was felt up and down the east coast, authorities are reporting, and as far north as Toronto.

"It was a strange sensation," said Lanning Taliaferro, associate regional editor for Patch.com, who was at the Tuscan Grille when she felt the tremor.

"It felt like a bump from below," she said. "I thought maybe a truck dropped something outside the restaurant."

Cell Phone Service Disrupted

Cell service providers, including Verizon and AT&T, reported network congestion for about a half hour following the quake. According to a report on CNN, the service disruptions were caused by millions of people placing calls at the same time, and weren't attributed to structural or network damage caused by the quake.

In the meantime, popular tech blog engadget includes links to statements from Verizon and T-Mobile:

Verizon Wireless released the following statement on Twitter: "Seeing no reports of damage to our wireless network. There was some network congestion in the East after tremors. Continuing to monitor."

T-Mobile sent us an email: "T-Mobile's network is experiencing higher call volumes in all areas and counties affected by the earthquake. If customers are experiencing temporary difficultly placing calls due to network congestion, we advise them to use SMS or E-Mail until call volumes return to normal."