ORANGE COUNTY, N.C. — The mystery is solved: the U.S. Geological Survey says there was a small earthquake in Hillsborough on Thursday. This comes after Orange County officials received reports of a loud noise and mysterious shaking but couldn't immediately identify the cause.
Around 12 p.m. Thursday, people in the Hillsborough area reported they felt a shaking feeling and heard a "boom" noise. As a precaution, several buildings, including the courthouse downtown, were reportedly evacuated for a short period of time.
Michael Woods, the owner of Dual Supply Co., in downtown Hillsborough told Spectrum News 1 on Thursday about the experience.
"There was just a really loud boom. The ground shook. The windows shook. The merchandise shook. I mean, it was really loud, like a sonic boom, which is maybe what it was. I don't know. But everybody came out of the buildings. Nobody knew what it was," Woods said. "I guess they were looking to see if there was anything on fire or fell or something."
Emergency officials in Orange County on Thursday tried to figure out what caused the sound and shared details online.
"Emergency Services have received reports of a short thunderous boom that was felt in the Hillsborough area," Orange County officials said on social media.
"They have ruled out obvious causes (bombs, explosions, crashes, etc)," the county said. "It is possible that this may have been a small earthquake."
"The noise was so loud the Orange County Courthouse was evacuated and at least one elementary school in Hillsborough hustled their students off the playground and went on a brief lockdown while security personnel attempted to determine the cause," according to a release by Orange County. "OCES and the Orange County Sheriff's Office immediately deployed UAVs to look for plumes of smoke, wreckage or anything else that could have caused the boom but found nothing."
Woods said he's used to military aircraft flying in the area and causing a sonic boom but said Thursday's situation felt different than that.
"We're in the path of where a lot of military helicopters, jets, bombers, the big B-52s, they go over, probably 10 to 12 times a year. There have been times when a fighter jet or something goes over and then they kick it into high and it causes a sonic boom. So I'm familiar with the sonic boom. I just can't remember the ground shaking like it did this time. So it was pretty pretty wild," Woods said.
The USGS's earthquake tracker showed no seismic activity in central North Carolina on Thursday.
But on Friday morning, the USGS website showed details regarding a 2.2-magnitude earthquake that happened at 11:49 a.m. just south of Cedar Ridge High School in Hillsborough.
Woods said things returned to business as usual shortly after the sound, but a lot of customers came into his shop asking him about the situation.
"Said they were at Home Depot, which is on the other side of 85 that felt it and heard it. And people north of town, as far as Roxboro, said they felt it and heard it. I don't know if it was as loud, but they said they heard it," Woods said.
Orange County officials say they haven't received any reports of injuries or damage associated with the earthquake.