Apple valley, California
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High Desert residents were rattled Friday morning by reports of loud booms and shaking, but no evidence of an earthquake or other abnormal activity was reported, according to the U.S. Geological Service.
The Daily Press received several reports of what initially appeared to be an earthquake just before 10 a.m. Friday. Several residents reported hearing "a loud boom," followed by rumbling and shaking. Another boom was reported just a few minutes later.
Although residents all over the Victor Valley reported the strange occurrence, most reports seemed to come from the Apple Valley area. However, no earthquakes have been reported in the area in the last 24 hours by the USGS.
A Southern California Logistics Airport spokesman said there had been nothing unusual at the airport Friday morning. Aircraft activity did take place but it was nothing out of the ordinary, the spokesman said.
Nevertheless, the occurrence led to many residents speculating on social media about what may have happened. A post on the Daily Press Facebook page asking residents if they had seen or heard anything generated more than 150 comments Friday morning, with most of these comments left in the 30 minutes after the reported booms occurred.
"I didn't feel anything but I heard them," Celeste Lesch, a Hesperia resident, said in a Facebook comment. "Just two; (they) shook my walls and my windows but no movement on the ground. It was weird. Reminded me of a thunderstorm, all noise and no shake."
Peggy Brady-Gilmore, a Victorville resident who lives near the Green Tree Golf Course, said her whole house rumbled because of the booms.
"I thought it was a wind gust, then realized it wasn't windy," Brady-Gilmore said.
Tim Larmer, an Apple Valley resident, said he "heard and felt it a lot," while another Apple Valley resident, Mandy Villamero Edmonston, said she heard the occurrence and felt shaking during the second one.
Daily Press messages left with the Apple Valley Sheriff's Station were not immediately returned, while Hesperia Sheriff's Station spokeswoman Karen Hunt said she had not heard of any reports at the station, and personally did not hear or feel anything.
Apple Valley Fire Protection District Chief Sid Hultquist told the Daily Press he was "almost certain" the booms came from the Black Mountain Cement Quarry in northeast Apple Valley.
"It sounded like they were blasting around 10 a.m. this morning," Hultquist said.
The cause of the reported booms and shaking is not yet known.