North Ga. residents felt earthquake tremors

WASHINGTON - A 5.9 magnitude earthquake centered northwest of Richmond, Va., shook much of Washington, D.C., and was felt in parts of North Georgia.

Residents in Gainesville, Dahlonega, Mt. Airy, Rabun Gap and Cleveland have all reported feeling the quake that was also felt as far north as Washington, D.C. and in New York City.

Rhonda Tolbert was at work in Dahlonega when she felt her chair start to move.

"The other lady in the department said she felt it too, so it was quite a jolt," said Tolbert.

Greg Holcomb said he was at work at Mt. Airy Wood Preserving when he felt a gentle rocking back and forth around 2 p.m.

"The door was moving back and forth a little bit, and I looked to my right and some of the papers that were on a file cabinet were moving back and forth," he said.

Holcomb, who lived in California for roughly a decade, said he was familiar with the sensation and knew immediately what was going on.

"While I lived out there I felt several tremors and small earthquakes," Holcomb said. "So I'm familiar with what that feels like and knew pretty quickly what we were having."

Jim Howard was sitting at his Lula home when he felt something he never felt before.

"My chair just kind of slowly moved back and forth," he said.

Howard said he checked the news and realized it was an earthquake. He said the entire ordeal only lasted a couple of seconds.

Parts of the Pentagon, White House and Capitol were evacuated. The quake was in Mineral, Va., in Louisa County.

Federal officials say two nuclear reactors at the nearby North Anna Power Station were automatically taken off line by safety systems around the time of the earthquake. No damage has been reported at the facility.

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman Roger Hannah says the plant is being run off of four emergency diesel generators, which are supplying power for critical safety equipment.

The National Weather Service says no tsunami is expected.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.