© Tyler Beyer via AP
The earthquake caused a rockslide on Highway 21 near Lowman, Idaho.
The earthquake caused a rockslide on Highway 21 near Lowman, Idaho.
Until Susie Baker looked up and saw all the hanging aisle signs swinging back and forth.
"Then I thought I heard a sound ... and the floor was moving," said Baker, a checker at the store.
It was the force of the most powerful earthquake to strike the Gem State since 1983, a magnitude 6.5 temblor that jolted people across Idaho and three neighboring states. No injuries or damage were immediately reported.
The quake was centered 73 miles northeast of Meridian, near Boise, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, and, for some, conjured up memories of the state's worst such natural disaster, the 6.9 magnitude Borah Peak earthquake nearly four decades ago that killed two people and resulted in millions in damages, according to the Idaho Geological Survey.
"At first I thought it was thunder, weird thunder, but then the house was moving and I realized this is an earthquake — a really big earthquake," said Melissa Hawkins, 44, who lives in northwest Boise with her family. "It felt like it was in Boise."
Comment: Some other earthquakes to hit the United States very recently include:
Shallow 5.0 magnitude earthquake rattles West Texas (March 26)
7 earthquakes rattle Oklahoma in 24 hours (March 23)
5.7M earthquake strikes Salt Lake City - First ever to directly hit Utah's capital (March 18)