WEST SENECA, N.Y. (WIVB) — An earthquake occurred Monday morning in western New York, registering at magnitude 3.8.
The epicenter of the earthquake was located 1.3 miles east northeast of West Seneca.
“At about 6:15 a.m. EST today, an earthquake was felt strongly by many people in the Buffalo, NY area. It is unknown yet if there is any damage from the earthquake,” the National Weather Service said.
Numerous people called WIVB reporting they felt it in such places as Lackawanna, Kenmore, Buffalo, Amherst, Hamburg and West Seneca.
Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said that according to the Erie County Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Services, a “confirmed quake was felt as far north as Niagara Falls and south to Orchard Park from initial reports.”
“It felt like a car hit my house in Buffalo,” Poloncarz said. “I jumped out of bed.”
West Seneca Town Supervisor Gary Dickson said he wasn’t aware of any damage that occurred in the town as a result of the earthquake.
But further north, Mayor Byron Brown said a chimney came down on a car in north Buffalo.
This is not the first time western New York has experienced an earthquake. Just last year, a minor quake occurred in Warsaw, registering at magnitude 2.6.
Looking at southern Ontario and western New York as a whole, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) says the region experiences “moderately frequent earthquakes at least since the first one was reported in 1840.” The largest reported earthquake occurred near Attica in 1929 and registered at magnitude 4.9, causing “moderate damage.”
“Earthquakes too small to cause damage are felt roughly three or four times per decade, although only one was felt during the 1940s and eight were felt during the 1960s,” the USGS says.