No Reported Damage in East Hampton From Earthquake Tremors

A 5.8 earthquake struck Virginia and the aftershocks were felt along the East Coast, including on the East End of Long Island.

In in East Hampton, coffee drinkers felt it, but didn't quite realize what it was. "I feel like the benches are swaying," one patron said.

The swaying lasted about 10 to 15 seconds around 2 p.m.

East Hampton Village Police Captain Mike Tracey said the 911 system was inundated with calls from people who didn't know what they had just felt. "Right away the phones started ringing," he said.

While he hadn't felt it, others in the Emergency Services Building on Cedar Street had. "No one felt it hit here hard enough to call for an evacuation," Tracey said.

Meanwhile Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy said the government buildings further west were evacuated. "We had just finished an emergency practice drill less than an hour beforehand," he said.

"One of the things that went through my mind was that someone bombed the building, and maybe this drill wasn't such a drill. ... But thankfully no one was injured, and this is what you train for," Levy said. "If there are more problems, such as an aftershock, our team is ready to deal with them."

Levy said no injuries were reported. 

East Hampton Town Police Chief Ed Ecker said no damage has been reported in town. "We got calls from people, not reporting damage, but asking if we felt the same thing."

Sondra Lenz, a bookkeeper whose office is on Main Street in East Hampton, said, "I actually thought I was dizzy and shaking . . . The whole office was moving."

A co-worker who was above Rowdy Hall told her, "The books were almost shaking off the bookshelf."

Architect John Savage, who works out of the same building, said, "We are on the second floor and it is a wood frame building. It was a little exaggerated here on the second floor with the height and weight of the building."

He had never felt an earthquake that strong here. "I lived in San Francisco and I was very used to it so it was the first thing that came to mind."

From Montauk, P.J. Delia said, "My son and I just felt like our apartment wiggled -- a lot." She said the alarms kept going off at the motels nearby, perhaps some car alarms, too.

Gail Simons said she felt it at in Montauk. "Thought my blood sugar dropped or something. Creepy!," she wrote to East Hampton Patch.

Lisa Hemby, who was in Sag Harbor, said the feeling was a strange one. "The building swayed, moved slightly enough for the pictures and the window to shake."

Suffolk County residents who experience any problems as a result of the quake are encouraged to call 631-852-COPS.