Earthquake!

By -
5.6 magnitude earthquake centered 40 mi. ENE of Oklahoma City this evening. It was felt at our home in Wichita to the north and in the Dallas-Ft. Worth Metroplex to the south. There is a report of some minor damage in southern Kansas but the extent is unknown at this time.

The 5.6 is the strongest earthquake in the history of Oklahoma. A 5.2 occurred near Prague (pronounced PRAY-ga) this morning.

UPDATE: Just got a reliable report that it was felt in St. Louis.

UPDATE 3: Lincoln Co. (OK) emergency management says "significant" damage there.

the "eyes" have it
UPDATE 2: Kirk Herbstreit, in Stillwater covering the Kansas State-OSU game, feels the earthquake live. As Chris "Boomer" Berman would say, LETS GO TO THE TAPE!


UPDATE 4: KJRH TV, Tulsa, reports from Lincoln Co.:


Lincoln County Emergency Management is reporting significant damage in the southern parts of the county.  In some cases chimneys have collapsed through the roofs of homes.  Damage to the Prague library includes collapsed air condition ducts and a collapsed wall.

Several roadways have buckled, including Highway 62 and other county roads.


UPDATE 5: Here is a map from the U.S. Geological Survey that is color coded by the amount of ground shaking that could be felt. The lighter greens and yellows are areas where damage may have occurred.

UPDATE 6: USGS has reports of the earthquake being felt more than 1,000 miles away.
Click here to see the list. 

UPDATE 7 (and last): Just got a Tweet asking me what I thought about earthquake insurance. I have it. While it is inexpensive, it has a large deductible. Nevertheless, Kathleen and I think it is worth it because we  don't want to have to completely finance a major rebuilding of our home. The cost versus benefit seems positive to us. 

Welcome new readers! When things calm down, please feel free to look around the blog. 

Comments

  1. Keith AnglemyerNovember 6, 2011 at 12:22 AM

    That's funny right there! Enjoyed Larry Hatteburg's handling of it while KAKE was on the news live. He's such a pro, but you could tell it rattled him a little bit.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mike SmithNovember 6, 2011 at 12:25 AM

    Thanks, Keith.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Katelyn PfeisterNovember 6, 2011 at 12:48 AM

    20 seconds or so in Murphysboro, Illinois! Enough to get my nerves up enough to go outside... can't peel myself away from the computer reading all the coverage, clips, tweets, and facebook messages! Kirk handled it much better then I would!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Mike SmithNovember 6, 2011 at 12:49 AM

    Thanks, Katelyn.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hilary's Forecast Path Shifts West; Updated 9:20am PDT

By -
Image
The forecast path of the center of Hilary has shifted a bit to the west. This increases the threat to the Southland, especially in terms of flooding.  Rainfall Note the heavy rains are forecast for Los Angeles County. Serious flash flooding may result. Because the forecast path has shifted to the west, that increases the threat of serious flooding in Los Angeles County north into Yosemite and the southern Sierra. It lessens the threat in Utah and western Arizona. While the threat of widespread flooding in Utah and Arizona lessens, note that some thunderstorms with localized heavy rain show up on the map.  In Nevada, the more western path increases the risk of serious flooding around Mt Charleston and into the central part of the state.  Here is the updated  (9am PDT) flash flood risk map. Wind There are already about 40,000 people without power in California, mostly in the center of the state.  The maps above are the peak gusts forecasted with the storm. The highest winds, in general,
Read more

Dangerous Travel Conditions - People Reportedly Stranded

By -
Image
-- Note, more current info available. Scroll up. --- Updated Information as of 8am PDT You are risking your life if you attempt to travel through the purple area.  While the rain has not begun in coastal California, I would urge you to use this time to make any preparations. Power outages have occurred already in southeast California. Here is the latest radar as of 7:55am PDT. As of 6:40am PDT , the radar indicates moderate to heavy rain falling over desert areas of Southern California and far western Arizona (click to enlarge).  Rainfall amounts for the 24 hours ending at 7am PDT show more than two inches have already fallen. There are reports from reliable sources that roads are already washed out and that people are stranded in isolated parts of the desert.  Below is a high-resolution computer model's rainfall forecast from 5am PDT to 11pm PDT Sunday. More than a foot of additional rain is forecast to fall. This will lead to catastrophic flooding.  Here is a map of current watc
Read more

Update on Tornado and Wind Potential; 12 Noon PDT

By -
Image
There was at least one tornado and at least one funnel cloud yesterday.  --- original forecast --- Hilary (the swirly symbol) continues to move NNW paralleling the coast of Baja California, Mexico. The area outlined in red has a significant risk of tornadoe s the rest of the afternoon.  Below is a list of peak wind gusts so far.  Peak winds may increase farther north as the afternoon progresses.  Addition at 12 noon PDT: Sure enough, winds have increased.  Note: If you are in the San Diego area, I recommend not  traveling east on I-8. Heavy rains may cause flash flooding that will involve the highway. 
Read more