Earthquake rattles central Alberta
Posted March 4, 2019 7:34 am.
Last Updated March 4, 2019 6:52 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
SYLVAN LAKE (660 NEWS) – There appears to have been a shake-up in central Alberta as several reports of an earthquake came on Monday morning.
Earthquakes Canada confirmed seismic activity, about 4.6 in magnitude, occurred in the area between Sylvan Lake and Red Deer around 5:55 a.m.
EARTHQUAKE Mag=4.6 on 04 Mar at 05:55 MST.
Details : https://t.co/JMylfwKl7A
35 km ENE of Red Deer, AB
127 km S of Edmonton, AB
— Earthquakes Canada (@CANADAquakes) March 4, 2019
Residents who woke up to their houses shaking took to social media.
We felt it, woke me up with no idea what had happened. Hubby was up and felt the house shake. Still no power yet, we are in Sylvan Lake.
— Brandywine in the 99 (@99brandywine) March 4, 2019
https://twitter.com/sapphirology/status/1102567544609619968
One resident, Barb Fenske, explains what happened in her house.
“It’s almost like the train had gone through, how you have those vibrations. Then everything went black, everything was dark.”
Fenske says her husband also heard a loud explosion but when he went to investigate, he found nothing. That’s led the couple to believe the event might have been a frost quake.
“That could have been the popping that they heard. Living as close to the lake, when you pop a cube of ice, it will make that pop and I don’t know if maybe (that’s) what the sound was.”
It wouldn’t be the first time a frost quake has hit the province. Last January, a frost quake woke up residents of Alberta Beach with many reporting hearing a loud bang following by a shaking under the ground.
Others on social media wondered if the quake is related to the practice of fracking.
In a statement emailed to 660 NEWS, the Alberta Energy Regulator confirmed that fracturing operations did occur near Sylvan Lake this morning. Vesta Energy who was overseeing the operations, has since ceased work.
However, the exact cause of the quake is still under investigation