Magnitude 3.8 Earthquake Strikes Near The Florida/Alabama Line

September 3, 2020

The U.S. Geological Survey is confirming a magnitude 3.8 earthquake near the Florida/Alabama line Thursday morning. The earthquake was initially reported by USGS as a 4.0, but that was revised after additional data was analyzed.

The earthquake was centered near Pollard, Alabama, shortly after 10 a.m. That’s about three miles north of Jay or six miles east-northeast of Century.

NorthEscambia.com received hundreds of reports of the ground shaking and even motion of walls and other objects inside buildings from across the area. Most of the reports were in the areas of Century, Flomaton and Jay, but extended outward to Pensacola, Cantonment and Brewton.  Many people reported a secondary but weaker shaking, but that has not yet been confirmed.

Escambia County Emergency Manager Eric Gilmore said Engine 519 from the Century Station of Escambia Fire Rescue surveyed the Century area but did not find any damage.

Jay High School reported that students were safe. The quake was felt at the school, but there were no injuries and so far no damage found.

According to the USGS, damage is not expected from a magnitude 4.0 earthquake.

There was a series of  earthquakes in vicinity from March 6 to April 17 in 2019 ranging from magnitude 1.8 to magnitude 2.8. In 1997, a magnitude 4.9 earthquake occurred in the area.

This story will be updated with any additional information.

In the graphic below, you can see the earthquake as recorded in real time by a seismic monitoring station in Brewton.

Comments

17 Responses to “Magnitude 3.8 Earthquake Strikes Near The Florida/Alabama Line”

  1. tc on September 5th, 2020 7:38 am

    Becky, Fracking is practiced ALL over this country not only the Jay area. This area happens to sit on top of a Fault line & has experienced MANY quakes through the years.

  2. Becky on September 4th, 2020 8:25 pm

    I bet it has everything to do with fracking.

  3. Sour Dough on September 4th, 2020 6:43 pm

    Good Friday Earth Quake 9.2 Gulf of Alaska, in the afternoon, that was a mover and a shaker.

  4. Resident on September 4th, 2020 2:18 pm

    “What kind of reporting does not include what time this happened? This site is so dumb sometimes.”

    Might to work on your reading comprehension and try reading it again. Sometimes these commenters are so dumb sometimes.

  5. Drew on September 4th, 2020 12:59 pm

    What kind of reporting does not include what time this happened? This site is so dumb sometimes. I’ll go find it at USGS but seriously, the only thing these reporters are good at are sensationalizing and fear mongering with racism. General information is hard to extract.

  6. Chris on September 4th, 2020 7:43 am

    Would like to hear more about the back bone also….

  7. Me.... on September 3rd, 2020 8:29 pm

    Hey Guys……the earthquake story was interesting but I WANT TO HEAR MIRE ABOUT DEVIL’S BACKBONE!!!!

  8. Christopher on September 3rd, 2020 5:22 pm

    @Jonathan D. Cardwell Yeah I’ve been to the devils backbone many times when I was younger and could actually get to it. That entire area was home to big groups of Indians at one time, I remember finding arrowheads and things as a kid. That’s a beautiful area, thanks for bringing up a place I’ve not thought of in years

  9. Christopher on September 3rd, 2020 5:12 pm

    It was a very strange feeling, and I still remember the earthquakes back in the 90’s, but they weren’t anything compared to this one. It felt like huge waves going under our apartment, things were moving and the windows even rattled. I ran outside just to check that something here didn’t explode, but it was a good thirty minutes before I could walk and not feel as if I was drunk. Being on a fault line on top of the major amounts of oil that’s been taken this will probably be a fairly regular occurrence. Hopefully it doesn’t get bad enough to cause major damage, because I can only imagine how bad anything higher on the Richter scale is, not to mention that buildings and houses around here are not built to withstand bad earthquakes as in other parts of the country, even today’s quake could’ve caused damage to the foundation and shell to some of the older building’s and houses in the area.

  10. Marina Chancery on September 3rd, 2020 4:37 pm

    I live on a bluff of Murder Creek near Kirkland. I definitely felt our house shake for about 5 seconds. I thought at first it was a train because our home is pretty close to train tracks and sometimes heavy trains shake the house some, yet I heard no trains. I was pretty sure it was an earthquake. Glad to read this report!

  11. Wayne on September 3rd, 2020 4:28 pm

    Jonathon, I heard the stories and spent time at the devils backbone before all the roads were closed to public.

    It may be the Ghost of the Bone Picker!

  12. No Excuses on September 3rd, 2020 4:12 pm

    That’s pretty strong! I’ve been in 7.8 earthquakes in the Phiippines, and that tore everything up!

  13. Dan Casey on September 3rd, 2020 1:58 pm

    Thanks for a wonderful job of reporting! So much information, from so many sources, in such a short time. Your shot of the earthquake meter is really neat

  14. Joyce Crutchfield on September 3rd, 2020 1:38 pm

    Heard the “boom” in Cantonment on Pine Forest Road.

  15. JONATHAN D CARDWELL on September 3rd, 2020 1:31 pm

    Anyone ever heard of the “devils back bone” located on mims island way out in the river swamp of century / flomaton. He may be waking up an stiring around! It’s a old indian site with lots of history. tall tails from the past long gone an forgotten in the swamp

  16. Mike on September 3rd, 2020 12:59 pm

    2020 strikes again

  17. Caralee Fredericks on September 3rd, 2020 12:56 pm

    Shocking to feel the whole house shake back & forth!! Strongest I’ve ever been in. It Seemed to last at least 3 if not 4 seconds long. Glad it stopped! God created an amazing planet!