Long Islanders felt shaking Friday morning after a reported earthquake north of Whitehouse Station in New Jersey, approximately 45 miles from Manhattan.
A 4.8 magnitude earthquake was reported at 10:23 a.m. by the United States Geological Survey.
“My team is assessing impacts and any damage that may have occurred, and we will update the public throughout the day,” Gov. Kathy Hochul wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
New York State residents received a public alert on their phones at 12:05 p.m. warning that aftershocks may occur.
There have been no reports of structural damage throughout the county, Nassau Executive Bruce Blakeman said at a press conference in Mineola this afternoon.
Blakeman said his office has been in contact with employees at the police department, the fire department, emergency services, National Grid, PSEG, Veolia Water, Nassau Medical Center, the correctional center and the temporary cricket stadium, all of whom reported no structural damages.
The Department of Public Works has not reported any incidents throughout the county, Blakeman said.
Blakeman said the Atlantic Beach and the Bayville Bridge were being inspected as he spoke at the press conference around 12:30 p.m.
Blakeman said the county spoke with a geologist from the United States Geological Department who said that while aftershocks might occur, they will not be nearly as severe as the earthquake and are not likely to cause damages.
The county executive said the only damage he was aware of was a tree knocked down in Suffolk County, though he could not confirm if the fallen tree was caused by the earthquake.
He called this earthquake a “good learning experience” for public safety officials.
“Some people belittle how much money and time we spend on training and going through all of our emergency operations,” Blakeman said. “You never know what you’ll wake up to in the morning.”
The earthquakes comes soon after a posting by the Blakeman administration seeking to recruit armed residents to aid in county emergencies.
With school in session, local districts have reported updates on student safety.
“RSD Alert Earthquake reported. All students and staff are safe,” wrote the Roslyn School District in a text to district residents.
There was no damage to the facilities at the Roslyn School District, according to an email by Superintendent Allison Brown.
There were no damages to school facilities and all students and staff members are school at the Port Washington School District, East Williston School District, Floral Park-Bellerose School District, Mineola School District, Great Neck School District, Sewanhaka School District, New Hyde Park-Garden City Park School District and Herricks School District, according to administrative employees.
Efforts to reach the North Shore School District and the Manhasset School District were unavailing.
There were no reports of injuries or damages at Hofstra facilities, according to an email sent by Hofstra University to students.
No damages were reported at the county legislature’s Democratic caucus, according to communications director Danny Shrafel.
“I was in a staff meeting when it happened and initially, really, the first thought was it felt like a truck driving past our building at some speed that kept shaking the building,” Shrafel said. “And then we started getting texts and emails and phone calls saying, ‘Did you feel that? Did you feel that?’”
No damages were reported at Hempstead town hall and proceedings should move on without any stalls, town spokesman Umberto Mignardi said.
This 4.8 magnitude quake comes close to the worst reported seismic incident in New Jersey, which was also its first reported earthquake: a 5.3 magnitude earthquake in 1783.
