Earthquake! AP Reports Pentagon, Capitol Being Evacuated [UPDATE: Magnitude 5.9]

Wow, did you feel that? Here in Arlington, I felt a strong rumbling through the house, even had a clock fall to the ground. Crazy.

Meanwhile, per USA today:

The Associated Press reports that the Pentagon is being evacuated.

An apparent earthquake rocks Washington, D.C. area.

Fox news reports that several public buildings, including the Capitol, have been evacuated.

What are you hearing? Stay safe!

UPDATE: The USGS reports that this quake measured 5.8 5.9 on the Richter Scale, was located at 37.875°N, 77.908°W, apparently near Louisa and Mineral, northwest of Richmond, 83 miles from Washington, DC, just 0.6 miles deep. Wow.

UPDATE #2: ABC reports the quake was “felt in Washington, New York City, North Carolina.”

UPDATE #3: My cell phone (Verizon) service isn’t working, is yours?

UPDATE #4: Hey, now that the earthquake’s gotten everyone’s attention…make sure you go VOTE today! 🙂 For Jaime Areizaga-Soto, Janet Oleszek, and Theo Stamos if you could. Thanks. 🙂

UPDATE #5: Per the Washington Post, Marcia McNutt of USGS says, “What the concern is, of course, is that this is a foreshock. If it’s a foreshock, then the worse is yet to come.”

UPDATE #6: From Del. Surovell on Facebook, “Report from VA: No casualties, no emergency declaration, no resource requests, no power outages, no transpo impacts, VA nuke plants ok”

UPDATE #7: NBC reports, the “The [North Anna nuclear power] plant declared an ‘unusual event’ in the wake of the 5.9 magnitude quake, which is the lowest stage on the plant’s emergency scale…As a result, the plant has been shut down.”

UPDATE #8: Per Metro, “Customers should expect significant delays on Metrorail until further notice due to the reduced operating speed.” Also, “Metro personnel are conducting track inspections of the entire rail system.”

UPDATE #9: With people being sent home from work in DC and Virginia, I’m wondering if voting hours be extended? How will this impact today’s elections? Who knows at this point. Craaaazy.

UPDATE #10: There’s excellent quake coverage, specifically focused on Arlington, at ArlNow!

UPDATE #11: I just talked to a representative at the State Board of Elections, and she said they’re focused on making sure polling places are safe, that some polling machines have actually been moved outside. So far, though, there’s no sign that polling hours will be extended. Seems to me that’s a mistake, but what do I know?