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2.4-Magnitude Earthquake Rattles Boone Sunday Evening

Earthquake

By Jesse Wood

Aug. 25, 2014. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) confirmed what many residents heard and felt on Sunday afternoon.

A 2.4-magnitude earthquake occurred on Sunday at 7:16 p.m. The epicenter of the earthquake was four kilometers northeast of Blowing Rock. It had a depth of 12 kilometers. On the USGS “Did You Feel It?” page, 13 citizens responded: one from Blowing Rock, 10 from Boone and two from Collettsville.

Residents took to Facebook on Saturday evening, and many initially thought it was thunder. Watauga County Road Conditions received dozens of posts from folks who heard a boom and then felt the seconds of tremors.

“I too felt/heard something off [Blue Ridge Parkway] near Aho. I thought a tree had fallen on the house. Only lasted 3-5 seconds,” Vickie Hawkins posted on WCRC’s Facebook page.

This most recent quake was similar in scale as the 2.5-magnitude earthquake in June 2014; the 2.3-magnitude earthquake that shook in the High Country in May 2014; and the 2.9-magnitude earthquake that rattled the Boone area in August 2013. All three of these quakes had an epicenter near Blowing Rock.

In November 2012, a 4.3-magnitude earthquake rattled the High Country, but the epicenter of that quake was in Eastern Kentucky, about 100 miles from Boone.