After potentially more than 10 tornadoes touched down around the Chicago area Monday night, residents west of the city were hit with an itty bitty earthquake in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
The 3.4 magnitude quake struck the Somonauk, Illinois area, around 2:53am local time, according to the United States Geological Survey. The quake was pretty shallow, at a depth of just 9.8 kilometers, which is probably why a few folks said they felt it in the suburbs west of Chicago, according to USA Today.
The shaking was nowhere near enough to cause damage, thankfully. Some smaller quakes can cause considerable damage, depending on how shallow the epicenter, the soil type, and other variables like construction material.
Earthquake reported near Somonauk, Illinois https://t.co/cXzfBr5h0E pic.twitter.com/7OoATUQHW4
— CBS Chicago (@cbschicago) July 15, 2024
A small earthquake was probably the least of Illinois’s concerns on Monday night into Tuesday morning, as an absolutely insane storm system blew through the state. (RELATED: Huge US Fault Zone Could Be Ramping Up For Earthquake, Scientists Say)
The National Weather Service issued a series of warnings on Monday as tornadoes were reported throughout the Chicago area, with one apparently touching down in or nearby the city’s O’Hare Airport. Passengers on the runway reported being trapped inside of aircraft as the sirens wailed.
Many residents of the region awoke to power outages on Tuesday morning thanks to high winds, downed trees, and areas of flooding. The storm system is now expected to move through New England.
