GAINESVILLE, N.Y. (WKBW) — The U.S. Geological Survey recorded an earthquake with an epicenter in Wyoming County just after 11 a.m. on Tuesday.
The epicenter was reported to be 2.8 miles north of Gainesville, a village with a population of 222 people. The tremor happened 9.3 kilometers below the ground at 11:11 a.m. local time (15:11 UTC).
The quake's magnitude was recorded at 2.6 on the Richter scale, which measures earthquake intensity from 0 to 9. Earthquakes are usually only felt by people if they are higher than a 2 magnitude. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, damage does not typically occur from earthquakes until they reach a magnitude above 4 or 5.
According to the USGS, the largest recorded earthquake in Western New York was a magnitude 4.9 quake recorded near Attica in 1929.
On Marquart farms in Gainesville, you may know one of their best-known products, New York Chips.
“It almost sounded like a big crash. Like something heavy had dropped out of the sky, so people were just kind of moving around just trying to figure out, ‘what the heck was that?’” said Ryan Carpenter. He was filling out his NCAA bracket when the quake struck. “When you think of an earthquake, you think of a rumbling, shaking that's continuous, but this was one loud crash.”
