Earthquake!

On Tuesday, August 23rd, we experienced a 5.8 magnitude earthquake!  Yes, an earthquake in central VA.  It happened at 1:51 pm while I was busy trying to get my room ready for the students to return on Wednesday.  At first I thought Wes, our custodian was running on the roof, but I quickly realized that the sound I was hearing was more like 1,000 elephants on the roof.  Then the ceiling tiles started jumping up and down, my bulletin board flew off the wall, and the floor tiles started shaking beneath my feet.  I met some fellow teachers in the hallway as we ran to get out the door.  We were all in total shock from the 20 seconds of chaos in our rooms.  It was hard to come to terms with what had actually just happened.  Thank goodness for smart phones;)  I was able to quickly confirm that what we experienced was an earthquake and find out that the epicenter was not too far away in Mineral, VA.  I was able to get through to Rich on the phone before the towers were overwhelmed with calls, but thankfully was able to text everyone else to make sure they were okay.

Rich was at Carol's house when the earthquake happened.  Fortunately, being a CA native, Rich knew exactly what was happening and what to do.  Carol, being the CPA that she is, immediately rejoiced that she added earthquake coverage to her insurance plan:)  Luckily, neither of our homes were damaged, but Angela, who lives in Louisa, had significant damage to her home including a cracked foundation.

I wasn't able to get much done at school after this experience, so it was a good thing I was pretty much ready for the kids to show up on Wednesday!  Being the science teacher that I am, I was pumped to have actually experienced a significant earthquake.  It is one of those things that I will never forget!  It has been neat talking to my new students about all of their experiences during the quake.  And, now we'll get to talk about hurricane Irene!

Crack on our hallway after the earthquake.