A noise described by one resident as a "very loud kaboom" during Tropical Storm Lee has Greenwich Township residents and officials scratching their heads.

Greenwich Emergency Management Coordinator Gary Hill informed committee members Tuesday that residents felt something strange happen underneath their houses the night of Sept. 7.

"Unfortunately, the only thing that showed up so far was a small sinkhole by a storm drain," Hill said.

Barry Glassman, a resident in the 500 block of Dori Place, experienced the event firsthand.
"There was a very loud kaboom and then the earth shook under our houses dramatically to the point where we actually thought it was another earthquake," Glassman recounted at Tuesday's meeting, adding it happened about 7:30 p.m.
Glassman said he rounded up his family and headed outside "in socks or barefoot."

"When outside in the rain we saw that all of our neighbors were outside doing the same thing and everybody was yelling 'What was that?'" Glassman said.

Glassman checked with police who reported no explosions from any homes in the area. He also said the shaking could be felt from Dori Place to Greenwich Street within the borders of Wyndham Farm Boulevard and Walter Way.

"The ground at that easement between my property and the neighbor's is depressed more than it ever has been," Glassman claimed.

Township engineer Michael Finelli provided his best "educated guess."

"Somewhere underground in that vicinity there was a gigantic void on the surface somewhere,"" said Finelli, adding there are limestone problems in the township. "A tremendous collapse of material into the void caused the noise that everyone heard."

A call to the United States Geological Survey Friday provided the best explanation for the shaking and loud noise.
"A typical thing in limestone is that it dissolves and when it happens, on ground above where it is not supported, it collapses and shakes the area very locally," USGS geophysicist Paul Caruso said.
Caruso did not rule out the possibility of an earthquake.
"It's possible that an earthquake with a magnitude of 1.5 had an epicenter right in that area," Caruso said. "When earthquakes are below a certain magnitude it is difficult to get the location because the seismic waves don't travel far enough."