North Escambia Area’s Big Earthquake: Could It Happen Again?

March 27, 2011

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This year will mark the 14th anniversary of a local earthquake that was one of the largest ever reported in Alabama or Northwest Florida, and experts say there is a chance another earthquake could happen again with little or no warning.

At 3:35 a.m. on October 24, 1997, a significant earthquake awoke a large number of people in Escambia County, Ala., and Escambia and Santa Rosa counties in Florida.  The quake, which measured 4.9 on the Richter scale, was centered near the Little Rock community in Escambia County, Ala., and was felt as far away as Eglin AFB, and Gulfport, Miss. It was the strongest earthquake in the southeast in 30 years. No significant damage was reported.

The  U.S. Geological Survey classifies earthquake intensities. Here is how the October 24, 1997, earthquake measured up across the area, using intensity level descriptions from the Federal Emergency Mangement agency:

  • (VII)  Epicenter / Little Rock, Ala.
  • People have difficulty standing. Drivers feel their cars shaking. Some furniture breaks. Loose bricks fall from buildings. Damage is slight to moderate in well-built buildings; considerable in poorly built buildings
  • (VI) Brewton, Canoe and Lambeth
  • Everyone feels movement. People have trouble walking. Objects fall from shelves. Pictures fall off walls. Furniture moves. Plaster in walls might crack. Trees and bushes shake. Damage is slight in poorly built buildings. No structural damage.
  • (V) Atmore, Flomaton, Frisco City and Century
  • Almost everyone feels movement. Sleeping people are awakened. Doors swing open or close. Dishes are broken. Pictures on the wall move. Small objects move or are turned over. Trees might shake. Liquids might spill out of open containers
  • (IV) McDavid, Molino and Walnut Hill
  • Most people indoors feel movement. Hanging objects swing. Dishes, windows, and doors rattle. The earthquake feels like a heavy truck hitting the walls. A few people outdoors may feel movement. Parked cars rock.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the North Escambia area sits on the Bahamas Seismic Zone (the BSZ). Several earthquakes have occurred along this zone in recent years, but most are too weak to be felt by residents. While not a likelihood, the USGS says another significant earthquake could happen in the area at any time.

Two professors in the Department of Geology at Auburn University, Joan Gomberg and Lorraine Wolf, published a journal article a few years after the earthquake that theorized that the event was actually caused by the oil and gas industry and extraction wells located from Escambia County, Ala, to Jay.

Pictured top: The U.S. Geological Survey installed a seismic monitoring station just north of Brewton following the 1997 earthquake. Courtesy photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.


Comments

12 Responses to “North Escambia Area’s Big Earthquake: Could It Happen Again?”

  1. Janice Parker on March 29th, 2011 9:27 am

    Animals always know. Chickens will even tell you when it’s going to rain. LOL

  2. earthquake insurance on March 29th, 2011 2:37 am

    Alabama has had a few in the past so I don’t know why it couldn’t happen again. Click on my name to go to a page at usgs that lists Alabama’s past earthquakes.
    They finally fixed cracked gas lines in Atmore a couple of years ago from that last one.

  3. Oversight on March 28th, 2011 6:35 pm

    Sure it could happen here. Don’t you all watch the news? We could also be taken over by the Russians too!

  4. atmore on March 28th, 2011 9:55 am

    I remember this all too well! Boy, Was it scary!!! I hope it doesn’t happen again but it’s only a matter of time I’m sure!!

  5. EMD on March 27th, 2011 8:57 pm

    reanna: LOL

  6. reanna on March 27th, 2011 6:37 pm

    My husband grabbed his shotgun and ran outside to shoot something – the earthquake I guess.

  7. Constitutionally Committed on March 27th, 2011 3:26 pm

    I lived in Flomaton and taught/coached at Carver MS at the time, and was knocked out of my bed in the middle of the night- having grown up in California-this scared me more than anything I had felt previously!

    The Lord God is waking up his children-time is short to get right people!

  8. Melissa on March 27th, 2011 2:11 pm

    I remember it well I was in a tower working at a prison and the water was splashing out of the toliet. lol and felt the tower sway back and forth.

  9. Thinker on March 27th, 2011 9:05 am

    I didn’t feel a thing, I was too busy thinking in my sleep.

  10. ProudArmyParent on March 27th, 2011 8:26 am

    We were still living in a mobile home trailer in Byrneville back then. We were asleep and the waterbed begen to move it was then I realize the mobile home it’s self was moving. I got up to check on the kids in their bedroom and it seemed like it stopped just as I went through the kitchen. When I got to the kids all their head were popped up and wanting to know, “what was that?” I told them I didn’t know for sure, but I felt like we just might have felt the earth shift!

  11. C W on March 27th, 2011 7:53 am

    I was working the night shift that night, so I remember it well.

  12. moreinformed on March 27th, 2011 2:08 am

    My parrot actually woke us up wide eyed and hanging onto the side of his cage staring at the floor about 45 seconds prior to this quake. I made him get down but he jumped back up there terrified and kept looking at the floor. Then my horses started acting up and then I felt the quake. I guess animals can feel them coming.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News