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Adams earthquake felt throughout the North Country

A map from the United States Geological Survey shows citizen reports of feeling Sunday's earthquake in Adam's Center, with reports locally and as far as Buffalo; Montreal, Canada and Keene, New Hampshire. (Provided photo -- United States Geological Survey)

People in the Tri-Lakes area reported feeling an earthquake that rocked the western North Country at 2:10 p.m. Sunday.

The quake was magnitude 3.6 and emanated from 1 kilometer west-northwest of Adams Center, south of Watertown, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, the federal government’s official source of earthquake study. The Android Earthquake alert system reported the magnitude as 4.7, according to the Watertown Daily Times newspaper.

There are no reports yet on damage.

In nearby Watertown, “houses shook for several seconds and it sounded like an explosion,” according to the Times. But people also reported feeling the earthquake as far away as Buffalo, Albany, Montreal, and Keene, New Hampshire, according to USGS website.

Tri-Lakes area residents on social media reported feeling shaking, hearing dishes clinking together, seeing dust falling from ceiling tiles and watching their cats go “nuts.” People said they felt or saw signs of the quake in Saranac Lake, Lake Placid, Gabriels, Upper St. Regis Lake and Loon Lake.

The blue dot indicates the location of an earthquake in Adams Center, south of Watertown. (Screenshot from U.S. Geological Survey website)

Mary Shubert, who lives on the edge of Lake Placid lake, said the trophies on her bookshelf and the china in her cabinet started rattling at 2:11 p.m. Sunday.

“I went outside to see if a tree had fallen,” she wrote in an email after the earthquake.

Shubert said she posted on social media and asked others if they’d felt the quake.

“Resounding yeses!” she wrote to the Enterprise. “Wow!”

Rebecca Carr, who said she lives in a stone house about 6 miles from the earthquake’s epicenter, first heard a loud sound and felt a “very strong” vibration.

“Thought my teenaged (sic) son was up to something,” she wrote. “Then the noise and vibration got stronger.”

Carr thought it was a neighboring farmer moving equipment or some armed forces practicing military maneuvers — the Fort Drum military base is about 35 miles from Adams Center. She said this was the first earthquake she ever felt so strongly. After it passed, she checked the house and looked at the news to confirm what she’d experienced.

Old Forge resident Julie Aiello said the earthquake shook her home, too.

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Lauren Yates, Aaron Marbone and Peter Crowley of the Enterprise staff contributed to this report.

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If you think you felt this earthquake and would like to contribute your observations, email Enterprise reporter Lauren Yates at lyates@adirondackdailyenterprise.com.

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