Sweet Home residents felt their houses shaking Friday morning as an earthquake that struck east Linn County just before 6 a.m. Friday, Oct. 7, centered about 14 miles north of Sweet Home, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The USGS reported the magnitude at 4.4 and that it occurred about 8.87 miles deep in the earth, about nine miles east/southeast of Lacomb.
Sweet Home Police reported receiving “multiple calls” from residents following the tremor.
“We had people calling, wondering what was going on,” said interim Chief Jason Ogden, but he added that that was about it for effects in Sweet Home, as far as the police were aware.
Some residents reported items falling off shelves and tables.
Linn County Road Department dispatched personnel to inspect roads and bridges in the area for damage. The county utilizes the same inspection guide as ODOT, and both performed Level I inspections with no damage found.
“We checked out everything under the sun and had no reports of damage,” said county Road Master Wayne Mink.
According to the USGS, the quake was felt from south of Cottage Grove to Longview, Wash., and from Bend to the Oregon Coast. The rumbling hypocenter was tracked to an area about nine miles southeast of Lacomb, near Green Peter Reservoir and the Santiam Wilderness.
The quake had dogs barking in Sweet Home and, according to the Oregonian newspaper, a Corvallis resident awoke to their pet birds panicking.
For more details on the quake, visit https://t.co/tv91VLbfIQ.