SEISMIC EVENT ROCKS WINSTON-SALEM AT 4:56 A.M.!!!

TRIAD RESIDENTS FLEE TO THEIR WORKPLACES AND SCHOOLS TO DISCUSS "THE GREAT ’06 EARTHQUAKE"!!!

Early Reports Suggest That Literally Dozens Of People Have Been Stricken With Mildly Interesting Albeit Somewhat Predictable Anecdotes

"Kinda Like When A Leper Fell Into My Arms" Says One Community Member (see below)

AREA MAN Wonders If Shaking Was Due To Giant Squirrels On His Roof (see below)

UP CLOSE: "Will The Light Drizzle Of Rain Make Matters WORSE?!?"

ANALYSIS:  "Could It Happen HERE?"  Fuck, it just did!!

The W-S Journal:

A 2.6 earthquake classified as "micro" rattled the Triad area this morning, though there were no immediate reports of structure damage or injuries, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

One resident said the 4:56 a.m. quake felt like a large boom that lasted just a second or two. The epicenter was estimated at 3 miles east-northeast of Winston-Salem.

"We haven’t heard of there being any damage or anything, and typically you’re not going to experience that" with a quake this small, said Amy Vaughan, a geophysicist with the USGS in Golden, Colo.

She said though unusual for North Carolina, a quake of this magnitude would not be noticed in earthquake-prone California.

Winston-Salem police reported getting around 150 calls from locals wondering what happened.

UPDATE:  WXII says there were "reports of damage at Hanes Mall, but mall officials said the damage was minimal and released no further details."  Why the news blackout?  What are they trying to cover up at Hanes Mall?!?

[UPDATE UPDATE:  Emily says the street lights are out on Hanes Mall Blvd., so — all kidding aside — this is potentially dangerous]

Area residents relive the horror:

"Yes, I felt the quake — thought it was my husband or dog falling. Didn’t know until just now that there was a quake. We live in the Lewisville-Clemmons area off of Styers Ferry Rd." — Martha Robbins

"I felt it but thought it was thunder or that I was dreaming. My husband never moved…kept on snoring!" — Cecilia Hughett

"I woke up around 4:45 and couldn’t go back to sleep. I felt this general rumbling that grew and became a dull, but persistent shake. It was very disorienting; almost made you dizzy. It had a low rumble. The house appeared to sway slightly, and vibrate. I don’t know how long it really lasted but it seemed like about 10 seconds. Talk about scary." — W. Taylor Campbell III

"I’m sleep deprived. I, and my daughter, slept thru the whole thing." — Cangell

My favorite "eyewitness accounts" come from WXII viewers:

"well, i was sleeping soundly before a loud rumbling so rudely woke me. i didnt know what to do, so i got all 8 of my cats, and held them oh so gently. i called all my basketball players to see if they were doing swell. they said they were just fine, and asked how i was doing. i said i was fine. i also made sure they got my letter concerning my basketball class. and since i was up, i woke my darling wife and made her pick out my outfit for the day ahead. she did.. j crew, autumn edition."

"it felt like someone had bumped the house with a car."

"I thought for a second maybe it was squirrels jumping on the roof, but realized the squirrels here don’t weigh 1,000 lbs. which is what it felt like."

"I originally thought it was North Korea testing nuclear bombs again."

"It’s kida [sic] like my days in paraguay playing soccer and an earthquake hit and a lepper [sic] fell into my arms."

And while it did not invoke images of lepers falling into her arms, Emily experienced it, too:

I was actually awake when it happened.  As my normal paranoia of laryngitis has officially set in, I’ve been drinking water and tea nonstop during the day, and last night, I happened to get up for one of my five trips to the restroom, and after I had returned and gotten back into bed, I felt/heard the earthquake.  I actually saw my bedroom doorframe rattle and I heard the boom, making me think one of two things.  My first thought was that someone was bombing us, and I came to the hasty conclusion that if I was going to die, I’d rather die in my own bed.  My second thought was that a semi truck had overturned on 1-40, as Business 40 is ten feet from my back door.  I decided then that I’d probably imagined the whole thing, until NPR told me this morning that there had been a 2.6 earthquake in the Triad.  Anyway, it scared me.

The US Geological Survey has all the data.

And reports are flooding in from all over!

All around the town, there are literally dozens of area residents standing around water coolers at their workplaces, talking about the earthquake, and NO WORK IS GETTING DONE!!  Where the HELL is FEMA?!?

Using Google Earth — here was the epicenter, in relation to my house (click to enlarge).  They are 9.1 miles apart.

In all seriousness, it was nothing.  I felt nothing.  Neither did my dogs.  These things happen all the time, even in the Central U.S.