Nothing I’ve experienced in Gatlinburg can compare to what happened on a Saturday morning while lying half-awake in bed. I wasn’t in any hurry to get up early on my day off, but I also don’t care to sleep the morning away, no matter how tired I may feel. What occurred at 9:04 A.M. on Saurday, May 10, put my mind in a torrent of worst-case scenarios.
I heard the rumble. It sounded different than the vehicles that normally drive by: sanitation trucks, or any heavy-duty machinery that’s commonly heard on a daily basis around here. And it didn’t resemble thunder. I wasn’t anticipating storms that morning anyway.
Then the shaking began. That’s when I realized something potentially very bad was going on. By the time I jumped out of bed and anxiously pulled the cord to open the window blind, a fear had “shaken” me. What was I going to see outside? Was there a rockslide? Did a building nearby collapse? These thoughts entered my brain as the quaking began. Was our building coming down? It was a good 10 seconds of “What in God’s name is going on?”
These thoughts were a far cry from my initial idea that our chubby cat was hopping on the bed—which sometimes jolts me out of my sleep fog. It took a few seconds for that thought to get brushed aside.
The next thing anyone does nowadays is check their phone, which I did, and then proceeded to turn on the television and maybe wait to hear emergency sirens. Sure enough, I saw a brief Facebook post from WVLT Knoxville Meteorologist, Spencer Denton, saying what made the most sense, but the last thing I could comprehend—yes, it was an earthquake.
I grew up in Ohio, and every time it was recorded that we had a minor tremor, I never experienced anything that would confirm I definitely felt or heard an earthquake. I don’t ever remember a moment like this. No house shaking, no loud boom, or rumbles I could ever say, “Yeah, that was definitely it.”
So, I am chalking this up as a first for me, and after seeing it was a 4.1 magnitude, I would have to search the archives for anything that strong recorded anywhere near where I ever lived. I’m guessing no. It certainly helps that I was home, it was morning, and relatively quiet—until the moment of truth.
That was my account of what happened for 10-15 seconds on Saturday morning. The rest of this article will summarize the latest information regarding the earthquake, and what is being done for safety here in the Smokies.
The United States Geological Service (USGS) confirmed it was a 4.1 magnitute earthquake located about 12 miles southeast of Greenback near the Tennessee-North Carolina border at a depth of 16 miles. It was felt throughout East Tennessee and as far south as Atlanta, GA.
I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who wondered if there was any damage following the event. It was announced at 11:50 by the National Park Service that morning of the closure of the Foothills Parkway West—the new section. It has since reopened.
Thankfully, there haven’t been any reports of roads being damaged as a result, but crews with the Tennessee Department of Transportation will be assessing any and all bridges and roads in the following days and weeks, ensuring that a big part of our infrastructure is safe for us to travel on.
While it was a hairy, scary fraction of a minute, it is quite the story to tell. I never in my life thought I would ever feel an earthquake. You just don’t think about it unless you’re near a major fault line. This area is actually in an active seismic zone; however, most of the rattling is barely felt at under 3 on the Richter scale. A 4.1 isn’t significant on the chart, but it’s not nothing, and I hope to not get my shoes shaken any more intensely than it was on Saturday.
Thank you for reading about the latest unlikely news here in Gatlinburg on my publication. Stay tuned for more stories, tips, reviews, and events in the coming days, weeks, and months from my tourist home! It is much appreciated!
Good description. Exactly as I felt it here in Maryville. If you know the area the epicenter was beside Chilhowee lake between Foothills Parkway entrance and the start of The Dragon.