Earthquake Hits New Jersey, Felt In NYC: ‘It Sounded Like A Dump Truck’

Night owls in New Jersey were shaken early Wednesday morning when they felt an earthquake. The abnormal event was felt all the way in New York City.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) recorded a 3.1 magnitude earthquake in Freehold, New Jersey just after 2 a.m. EDT on Wednesday. The quick event was felt miles away in New York City with residents in Staten Island, Brooklyn and Queens reporting that they felt it. People in Philadelphia also reported feeling the effects.

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Earthquakes are uncommon in this area of the country, but they aren’t unheard of. Central Jersey felt earthquakes of 3.0 magnitude or higher in 1979 and 1992. The last memorable quake for many, however, was the 2011 magnitude 5.8 earthquake in Virginia that was felt in much of the northeast and even up in Canada.

An earthquake-tracking website run by the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre had reactions from several in central Jersey who felt the quake. Though it wasn’t very damaging, it seems the New Jersey earthquake was quite loud.

“It sounded like a dump truck being dropped from a few stories up, but about 4-5 blocks away,” a Matawan resident wrote. “It rumbled the floor for about 5 seconds. I could feel from my feet on the floor and through the seat of the chair.”

“Loud enough to wake my husband and I, then felt 3-4 big rumbles. I thought the basement was collapsing, but no damage,” a Marlboro resident commented.

“It honestly didn't feel like an earthquake,” someone in Monroe wrote. “I felt/heard an explosion, like someone dropped something really big, really hard on the ground below me. The shaking was very strong at first, but quickly faded into nothingness. It felt too short to be an earthquake, but I guess that's what it was.”

It seems like it mostly just left people—for lack of better word—shaken. “No reported damage out there and no resources were dispatched to any particular location in the county, but just the calls of folks wanting to know what it was and if it was an emergency,” Monmouth County Sheriff Shaun Golden told News 12 New Jersey.

Several Twitter users were just glad that the USGS seemed to end the silly, age-old debate: does Central Jersey exist? (Many New Jerseyans claim there's just a North Jersey and South Jersey.)