Strongest East Tennessee earthquake since the 1970s felt in Kentucky

A 4.4 earthquake occurred early Wednesday in eastern Tennessee, and there were reports it was felt in neighboring Kentucky, Georgia and North Carolina, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The quake happened at about 4:15 a.m. and was centered around Decatur, Tenn., which is about 60 miles southeast of Knoxville.

The Weather Channel and USGS said “light shaking” was felt a few hundred miles north in Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky cities like Frankfort and Lexington. It also was felt as far south as Florida and Georgia, including across much of the Atlanta area, according to USGS.

No major damage or injuries were reported early Wednesday.

The quake was followed about 15 minutes later by a 3.3 aftershock, the USGS said.

Southern and southeastern Kentucky felt the earthquake, according to WKYT meteorologist Jim Caldwell. The shaking was also felt nearly 300 miles east in Charlotte, according to multiple reports.

The ESMC (European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre) estimated 10 million people felt the earthquake.

It was the second strongest earthquake reported in east Tennessee, according to a tweet by the National Weather Service in Morristown, Tenn. The strongest was a 4.7 near Maryville (south of Knoxville) in 1973, the weather service said.

The 4.4 earthquake occurred in the Eastern Tennessee Seismic Zone, “a southwest-to-northeast belt extending from Alabama to far southwest Virginia,” reported the Weather Channel.

It is one of the most active earthquake zones in the central and eastern regions of the country, said the Weather Channel.

This story was originally published December 12, 2018 at 8:40 AM.