As if a storm of the century and the subsequent large swaths of destruction, power outages and crippling gasoline shortages weren’t enough already for New Jersey.
The struggling Garden State added another natural headache to the list with Monday morning’s earthquake. The magnitude-2.0 tremor struck at 1:19 a.m. and was centered two miles south-southeast of Ringwood, New Jersey, not far from the border with New York. The depth was 3.1 miles, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The quake was 3 miles below ground and could also be felt in Mahwah, Wanaque, Oakland, Franklin Lakes, West Milford and Paterson.
The USGS logged 11 responses from people who said they felt the quake across seven zip codes in New York and New Jersey.
Quakes in the eastern U.S. – even small ones like this – are typically felt over a larger area than quakes in the western part of the country, the USGS says. Quakes occur less frequently in the eastern U.S. than in the West.
No damage was reported from Monday’s quake.
The largest quake ever recorded in New Jersey was a magnitude-5.3 tremor in 1783, according to the USGS.
Ringwood police say there are no reports of damage.
Turner says the last earthquake in New Jersey came in February 2010 and measured in magnitude at 2.2.
The quake is latest problem to befall the North Jersey/New York area. More than 8 million people lost power as a result of the heavy winds, and extensive flooding from Hurricane Sandy last week. Additionally, a major nor’easter storm is headed to the area later this week.
New York City’s intricate subway system suffered the most extensive damage in its 108-year history, while the New York Stock Exchange closed for two consecutive days, the first time that had happened because of weather since 1888.
Damage estimates put the cost of the storm around $50 billion, the second costliest storm in history, behind Hurricane Katrina.
Sandy is responsible for at least 110 deaths in the United States.
