Friday Fright Night
“It’s really enormously loud and then it ceases. It doesn’t sound like a jet because the sound of a plane becomes distant as it moves away. This doesn’t move. It’s like having a jet plane in the back yard turning on and off.”
Things got weird earlier this evening. The above is from our friend Gayla, who wasn’t alone in hearing whatever “it” is…
“I heard that one time this evening while I was out feeding the horses,” reports our friend Jan Flora down in Homer. “I thought a jet was flying over, but the sound stopped. It was very short. It freaked me out for a minute, but I had my hands full of hungry horses, so I forgot about it quickly.”
Apparently that was just the warm-up act. A couple of hours later, this happened:
A 7.7 quake off Southeast Alaska’s coast resulted in a tsunami warning and people from British Columbia to Cape Suckling, AK being asked to find higher ground.
So how’s your night?
After the 1964 Big One, many people in Anchorage reported that they had heard what sounded like a train running through their yard, right before the earthquake. It’s interesting that today the sound may be the same, but what people compare it to, is different. I have always been terrified that I will hear that sound someday.
Also, some of my friends have stories about dogs’ odd behaviors, right before that ‘quake. One friend said she was at the grocery store on west Northern Lights Blvd, and saw many dogs in the middle of the street walking west, and asked her daddy why they were doing that, then the ground began its wave. They clung to light poles in the parking lot for those minutes.
We felt it, as we’d just gone to bed after confirming that the firends we were supposed to pick up at the airport weren’t going to make it in last night (fogged in airport here). It was long and big, but there was no damage here.
Isn’t this just business as usual in AK?
Husband woken up by quake, son also felt it. Me? I slept through it all.
me too, slept right through 🙂
I need to apologize to everyone about the “booming” and “jet engine” noises.
I really should not have eaten those cheese enchiladas.
The earthquake, however, was not my fault. As far as I know.
Awake in second story bed in Juneau, felt the house shake, then sway back and forth a couple times, then more shaking and gutters rattling Nothing went flying from shelves, however.
Got up and went to computer, and was amazed that Googling “earthquake Juneau” immediately brought up a full screen with “Tsunami Warning” at the top, complete with interactive map showing the location of the quake and communities likely affected by the tidal wave, plus magnitude of the quake and the times the wave was scheduled to hit shore in various place. All this within ten minutes of the event. Very impressive performance by the National Weather Service.
Come to think of it, about three hours earlier we had wolves in the woods behind the house howling and growling and snarling and carrying on. Dunno what they were up to, just a coincidence? I know the quake set the dog to barking.
Now I have to go off and find out how everything turned out. Tsunami ? No tsunami ?? Is everyone still up in the hills ? Did Lisa’s dog come back ?? Must know these things !
Tsunami warning cancelled around 2AM. Small wave at Port Alexander measured, even smaller at Sitka.
Some here, 200 miles away, were reportedly awakened by quake but not me.
No real report on damage to neighbors in Craig, AK yet- closest to quake .Quake downgraded a bit but still a pretty hefty shake.
Still no word on source of noise in Southcentral it appears. Hoping dogger has come home too.
When we had our baby earthquake here in the northeast last fall, one friend commented that it was the State of Maine going for a new Guiness World Record: Most people simultaneously checking their furnaces. No lie.
Things just aren’t quite strange enough already, hmm?