Earthquake shakes Carroll County

As if having to wake up before sunrise isn’t insult enough, area residents found the ground literally shifting beneath their feet in the wee hours Thursday morning.

An earthquake measuring magnitude 2.7 struck the region at 5:50 a.m., centered just south of Hillsville, Virginia. Dozens of individuals throughout Carroll County, including Cana, Virginia, residents, reported feeling the quake to the United States Geological Service (USGS). Far more reported on various social media outlets, and a Winston-Salem television station said a handful of residents in the Triad area claims to have felt the quake. Some in Carroll County, particularly in the Hillsville area, also reported hearing a loud blast at the time.

The USGS reported the earthquake epicenter was 2.4 miles south of Hillsville, at a depth of o.25 miles, meaning the quake happened near the earth’s surface.

The Hillsville Volunteer Fire Department was toned out at 6:11 a.m. for a call on Troutland Road in Hillsville with a report of someone who “heard explosion, knocking things off his shelves in the home.” The report also stated the man still had power, but the quake shook his trailer.

“At approximately 0606 hours, emergency units were dispatched to investigate reports of an explosion in the vicinity of Stable and Troutland roads. Upon arrival, units found no evidence of an explosion and received notification of a possible earthquake while on scene,” Carroll County Emergency Services stated in a Facebook post Thursday morning. “At this time, there has been no confirmed structural damage and no injuries reported.”

Unofficially, a few folks reported on social media outlets that they had pictures and other items knocked from their walls, but no other damage.

The Carroll County earthquake was the fourth in Southwest Virginia over the past 30 days, according to the USGS, joining two earthquakes near Pembroke, Virginia, (2.3 and 2.6 in magnitude) and one near New Castle, Virginia, (2.3 magnitude).

Anyone who felt the Carroll County earthquake Thursday may report it at the following link: https://staging-earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/se60533036/tellus