Another earthquake shakes Madison, local business owner reacts
MADISON, Ohio (WJW) – Residents in Lake and Ashtabula Counties may have been shaken awake by a light earthquake early Friday morning. The second quake to hit Madison in less than a week and at least the fifth since late August.
The United States Geological Survey is reporting Friday’s earthquake in Madison as 2.6 magnitude, happening at 3:47 a.m. while most people were sleeping.
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Debonné Vineyards is one of several wineries located near the hotspot for earthquakes in Madison. President Tony Debevc said he’s concerned with the frequency, but not the strength of the quakes.
“The one we just had here the other night, the last three episodes that we had, primarily were just very noisy we didn’t feel a lot of movement of the earth. So it seems like it’s a little less intense as it was in August. But it’s concerning for us, because it’s obvious that they keep showing that this is the fault line right here at the vineyards.”
On New Year’s Day, a minor 2.4 Magnitude earthquake also registered and on August 27 a more prominent 4.0 earthquake shook across several counties.
“In August, it actually shook our beer taps loose and we had about 40 gallons of beer on the beer tasting room floor,” Debevc said. “We came in the morning; it drained the kegs.”
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The Ohio Department of Natural Resources is keeping a close eye on what’s happening. Seismologist Jeff Fox said these are naturally occurring tectonic earthquakes caused by shifts in the fault line.
“This part of Ohio’s very faulted, the bedrock is deep, you know, about three or four miles down,” Fox said. “There are a lot of faults and there’s some reactivation on these faults from the withdrawal of the ice sheets thousands of years ago. As you can imagine, this part of Ohio was covered with a miles-thick sheet of ice. It was a lot of weight that was then removed.”
Debevc said he’s not overly worried about the quakes but he’s hopeful things will settle down.
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“I’m hoping that it’s going to be less and that we don’t have significant damage,” he said. “We may come out with a new wine or beer, though earthquake. (laughs).”
ODNR and the USGS are actively monitoring the area for future occurrences.
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