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McLeansville residents share their earthquake experience

Just after 2 a.m., a 2.0 earthquake was felt in Guilford County, with another just minutes later.

MCLEANSVILLE, N.C. — Did you feel it? 

The USGS reports a 2.0 earthquake hit near McLeansville just northeast of Greensboro at 2:19 a.m. Tuesday. 

Some WFMY News 2 viewers already have reported feeling it in the middle of the night.

Although considered a small earthquake, it was a literal wake-up call for Shareese Bryant and her family. She among other residents had no idea what they initially heard.

"My little one slept through it, but my oldest, she's a teenager, so we both got up. We were in the hallway. We were trying to figure out what it was. She was terrified. I was terrified and we kind of stayed up until four or five this morning. After we heard it was an earthquake, I kinda calmed down. If that was a 2.0, I wouldn't want to experience anything stronger than that," Bryant said.

This was both Bryant's and fellow McLeansville resident, Matthew Ball's, first earthquake experience.

"It was like when I heard a kaboom. I thought the world was kind of shaking a bit and it like just completely woke me up real fast. My eyes popped; it kind of traumatized me a little bit. I was just making sure my brother and mom [are ok]. I don't know if she heard anything," Bell said.

"I woke up to this loud bang," Bryant said. "It sounded like an explosion almost, and it kind of rattled the house a little bit. So, I sat up and I was talking to my oldest daughter. I was like 'What was that?' The first thing I thought was that a car fell off the bridge. I don't know, just waking up but, the Urban Loop is right here. So I thought a car fell off the bridge. I'm like that's too far for us to feel that and then a few minutes later, it had happened again and I was like yeah, something's happening. It made me Google like, 'What do you do in an earthquake?' and I you know, literally read if you're in the bed, stay in the bed, put a pillow over your head, so that was like new for me to even do research on." 

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The precise location looks to be close to Huffine Mill Road and I-840, otherwise known as the Urban Loop. 

How strong was it? Typically a 2.0 earthquake is strong enough to be felt, but not strong enough to cause any harm or damage to the area. At this time, we haven't received any reports of that. 

Three minutes later at 2:22 a.m., another earthquake hit just a few miles west between East Wendover and Huffine Mill Rd. This appears to be a secondary quake of just about the same strength, a 2.1. 

Earthquakes aren't common in North Carolina, but they do happen. Weak earthquakes like this happen a handful of times each year. Stronger ones are less common. You might remember the very strong Sparta Earthquake of 2020 which registered a 5.1 and did plenty of damage in Alleghany County.

WFMY News 2 has not received any reports of injuries or property damage.

"I just hope that all the people in McLeansville are safe and sound and just as long as everybody’s OK and nobody was hurt or anything, that’s the main thing," said Bell. 

Did you feel the earthquake Tuesday morning? If so, you can report it to the USGS. Here's how. 

Follow this link and click on the "Did you feel it" tab. Submitting a report helps validate the earthquake information. 

   

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