Environment

4.7 quake rocks Reno as area's seismic activity continues

by amyjudd | April 26, 2008 at 02:08 pm

529 views | 4 Recommendations | 1 comment

Reno has experienced more than 50 aftershocks after an earthquake that shook cans off shelves, knocked pictures off walls and even dislodged rocks along the Sierra Nevada.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or major damage early Saturday from the magnitude 4.7 quake that hit at 11:40 p.m. Friday. It was the largest quake in a two-month-long swarm of tremors.

"The earthquake was strongly felt in west Reno and felt throughout the Reno metropolitan area," the University of Nevada, Reno's seismology lab said in a statement early Saturday.

The U.S. Geological Survey said Friday night's quake was centered six miles west of Reno near Mogul, an area rattled by a swarm of more than 100 quakes the day before. The strongest of those was a magnitude 4.2 that caused high-rise hotels to sway in the downtown casino district.

The strongest aftershock measured magnitude 3.7 and was recorded at 12:29 a.m. Saturday.

The temblor cracked walls in northwest Reno, broke lawn watering lines and damaged a wooden flume built along the Truckee River in the late 1800s to float timber from Lake Tahoe down the mountain to Reno. There were no immediate reports of flooding along the flume.