An earthquake that hit southern Maine on Tuesday night rattled nearby New England states as far as Connecticut, including the Boston area, but caused no injuries or apparent damage.
Residents across the Granite State reported feeling the quake at their homes and businesses about 7:12 p.mTuesday’sy.
The U.S. Geological Survey at first estimated the quake as a 4.6 magnitude, but later downgraded that to 4.0. The epicenter, about 3 miles west of Hollis Center, Maine, is about 3 miles deep. That location is about 20 miles west of Portland.
About 10 miles away in Waterboro, about 20 customers and staff at Waterboro House of Pizza ran outside when they heard a loud bang and the building shook.
“It was loudest bang you ever heard in your life. We actually thought it was an explosion of some type,” said owner Jessica Hill. “The back door and door to the basement blew open.”
Dave Hilton was at his home in Sanford, Maine, when everything started to shake.
“I was sitting in front of my computer getting ready to go to work and felt the whole house shake. I ran out of the house, and everybody outside was running outside,” Hilton said.
The Seabrook Station nuclear plant in New Hampshire declared an unusual event — the lowest of four emergency classifications, but said it was not affected. The plant has been offline for refueling.
“There has been no impact at all to the plant from the earthquake and our refueling maintenance activities have not been affected,” said Alan Griffith, spokesman for Next EnergyEra Seabrook Station.
Jim Van Dongen, public information officer for the New Hampshire Department of Safety said New Hampshire 911 got about 1,000 calls in the first hour after the quake, but they later dropped off. He said no major damage was reported.
Emergency officials said so many cellphones were being used at once that it tied up the signal for many.
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