An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.1 that struck North Carolina near its border with Virginia on Sunday morning was the area’s largest in over a century, the United States Geological Survey said. The earthquake struck around two miles southeast of Sparta, N.C., a town about 100 miles north of Charlotte, shortly after 8 a.m. local time and was felt as far south as Atlanta and as far north as Baltimore, according to reports made by the public to the agency. The earthquake was the region’s largest since one of 5.2 magnitude struck in 1916 in the nearby Great Smoky Mountains. A 5.8 magnitude earthquake in 2011 that struck Mineral, Va., around 200 miles northeast of Sunday’s earthquake, is the largest one on the East Coast in recent history. The chimney collapsed at one home near Sparta and videos on social media showed roads cracked and water lines broken.

Source: New York Times August 09, 2020 17:15 UTC