A Magnitude 5.5 earthquake struck the south flank of Kīlauea Volcano on Hawaiʻi Island at 12:55 a.m. HST early Wednesday morning. The earthquake occurred at a depth of 7.0 km (4.3 miles) and was felt all across the Big Island. It was felt strongest in Volcano Village.
For a short time, the USGS website also measured the earthquake at a possible Magnitude 4.8, but later appeared to confirm the Magnitude 5.5 measurement. (That’s weird again!)
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, which said the earthquake struck “in the Hilina region of Kīlauea Volcano,” reported that no tsunami is expected after the event. “However, some areas may have experienced strong shaking,” the PTWC said.
USGS added: “Kīlauea’s south flank has been the site of 16 earthquakes of magnitude-5.0 or greater during the past 40 years. Most are caused by abrupt motion of the volcano’s south flank, which moves to the southeast over the oceanic crust. The location, depth, and waveforms recorded as part of today’s earthquake are consistent with slip along this south flank fault.”
If the earthquake was strongly felt in your area, precautionary checks should be made for any damages; especially to utility connections of gas, water, and electricity.
Kilauea made headlines when it erupted last year, with lava flows from May to August destroying infrastructure and hundreds of homes. And this was not the first time the volcano met another force of nature. The eruption coincided with Hurricane Lane at the end of the summer and the pair altered the island’s landscape. But it doesn’t look like this earthquake will make it blow again!
The rattling continues.
Seismologists said a third small earthquake happened Wednesday across the state line from the Panhandle area, even as questions continue about a mysterious rumble that rattled some homes across the Space Coast on Friday.
The latest earthquake took place about 1:27 a.m. in Flomaton, Alabama, which sits along the state line, just north of the town of Century and 175 miles south of Montgomery.
The incident, a magnitude 2.3 earthquake, had a depth of about 3 miles and shook the small town Tuesday night, making it the third earthquake to be detected in the area in less than a week. A 3.1 magnitude earthquake hit near the same Alabama town on Monday. No damages were reported in either case.
Last week, a 2.7 tremor hit Century.
For residents on the Space Coast, news of the various temblors is bringing to mind a strange rumbling that shook portions of Merritt Island, Viera, Cocoa, and possibly as far away as Lake Mary, about 6 p.m. Friday.
The shaking was not strong enough to be picked up by the U.S. Geological Survey, the federal agency that monitors earthquakes worldwide.
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