Community Corner

Update: Earthquake Rattles Ardmore Shopkeepers; 45-min. SEPTA Delays

The Phillies game is on, the organization announced.

Update: 5:50 p.m.

FEMA's earthquake resource page has tips on what to do after a quake.

Phillies update: The Phillies organization says the game is a on for Tuesday night following an inspection of Citizens Bank Park.

Find out what's happening in Ardmore-Merion-Wynnewoodwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Limerick Generating Station: Site Communications Manager Joe Szafran said Exelon's Limerick Generating Station power plant was being examined earlier Tuesday afternoon.

"When we experience a seismic event like we did, we have procedures that we follow that include (inspection) of plant equipment," Szafran said. "The plant is continuing to operate safely throughout the event and are still operating safely at full power and 100 percent. That's where we're at now."

Find out what's happening in Ardmore-Merion-Wynnewoodwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

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A 5.9 magnitude earthquake centered in Virginia was felt across the Main Line and the rest of Pennsylvania Tuesday afternoon shortly before 2 p.m., the U.S. Geological Survey said, adding that the quake was felt as far north as Rhode Island and New York City.

In downtown Ardmore, shop owners were quickly out on street, shouting, "Did you feel that?" to each other, several recounted.

“It lasted about 30 seconds,” said Ann Marie Casey, owner of the on Lancaster Avenue near Cricket. “I was on the phone—ironically with someone from Los Angeles—and I said, ‘I think we’re having an earthquake.’ They just said, ‘Call me back and get out the building.’”

SEPTA, which had temporarily shut down commuter rail service on various lines, including the Paoli/Thorndale, reports that service has resumed but that delays of 30 to 45 minutes could be expected. Airport train #9452, scheduled to depart the airport at 6:09 p.m., is canceled.

Amtrak was also experiencing delays from Washington, D.C. to New York, and from Philadelphia to Harrisburg.

Casey said that she originally thought a large tractor trailer was driving by on the busy main street, but then she noticed the art work on the walls of the gallery banging “like a pendulum.”

Ardmore Patch blogger Ed Ridgway, working from his home office in Narberth on the border of Merion Station, had a similar thought about it being a large truck rolling by, but noticed there was no noise, and he said the tremor lasted for too long.

"The floor started to shake a bit, like the house was wobbling in its foundation," Ridgway said. "It was about the same intensity as you feel in a tall building in a strong wind. It seemed to stop for a second, and then the shaking began again and lasted a bit longer. The whole episode lasted about 15-20 seconds, I’d say."

Nothing was damaged at Casey's gallery, she said. “And thank goodness because we have a photo exhibition going on and there would have been a lot of glass.”

Lower Merion officials said no damage was reported within an hour of the tremors.

In Pennsylvania, reports of shaking buildings and slight tremors were coming in from people from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, the Associated Press said. No immediate reports of damage or injuries were reported people left their office buildings in both cities.

"In Harrisburg, parts of the fourth and floors of the State Capitol were evacuated and one staffer, Bill Longworth, [said] that he was sitting at his desk, felt the shaking and had the 'oddest feeling,'" as "the shaking got progressively bigger and then just stopped," the AP reported.


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