By now most people have heard about this mornings earthquake which was felt throughout much of our area. However if you were at work until 5pm today like I was you may have just found this news out! The quake was part of a larger event that was centered near Pawnee in North Central Oklahoma not too far from Tulsa. The event was felt throughout much of the plain states including Kansas, Arkansas, Nebraska, Missouri and here in Iowa. The quake occurred at 7:03am with many residents especially in central and southern Iowa reporting shaking and rattling. The majority of reports were in central and southwest parts of Iowa with it not being felt as much across the north. There were numerous reports from Omaha and Des Moines metro areas and other cities such as Cedar Rapids, Sioux City, Leon, Creston, Mount Ayr and many others. One person in Osceola reported that the shades in windows were swaying with lamp chains swinging. Another in Ankeny reported that houseplants were moving a bit and I myself here in Cumming was awake ready for work checking things on the computer when I felt my chair moving back and forth slowly. I thought to myself “it could be an earth quake” but being I never been in one before and I had just woke up I blew it off as being dizzy from just getting up. So after finding this out I researched how frequent earthquakes in Iowa are and found they are extremely rare especially at a magnitude that they can be felt but earthquakes large enough to cause minor structural damage like cracking walls has happened in the past.

Interested in learning about the history of earthquakes? Go to Iowa Earthquake History

Want to file an earthquake report? go to USGS