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Earthquake rattles Arizona

2 min read

PHOENIX – A moderate earthquake jostled residents of northern Arizona – a region where quakes are frequent but usually don’t produce much damage or alarm.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the magnitude-4.7 temblor that hit late Sunday night was centered 7 miles north of Sedona and 6 miles underground. There were no immediate reports of injury or major damage, though workers had to clear some rocks and debris from a highway between Sedona and Flagstaff.

“Business as usual,” said David Brumbaugh, director of the Arizona Earthquake Information Center at Northern Arizona University. “It’s nothing unusual to have earthquakes in this part of the state. Most of them are too small to be felt.”

Still, more than 1,200 people used the U.S. Geological Survey’s website to report they’d felt the quake.

“I think what I heard was the house kind of rattling,” said Donna Kearney Lomeo, a Sedona real estate agent. “It sounded like a bunch of balls rolling around on the roof.”

Deana Irvine, a Flagstaff-area midwife, said the temblor had her thinking a plane might have crashed in her usually quiet neighborhood.

“I was surprised that it made noise,” Irvine said. “It was really loud. It was rumbling and I was thinking it sounded like an explosion or a sonic boom.”

The Arizona Geological Survey, a state agency, said it identified at least 10 smaller, more shallow aftershocks. Three of them approached a magnitude 3.0, said research geologist Jeri Young.

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