OTTAWA — Two earthquake rattled Franklin County and most of the southern plains Saturday morning and Saturday night. Ottawa assistant city planner Tom Yahl was awakened by the Saturday night temblor. “I woke up and felt the whole house swaying back and forth,” he said. “My first thought feeling the swaying and hearing odd noises, was ‘Is this an earthquake?’ Being half asleep, it stopped and I fell back to sleep.” It was later Sunday, when he heard news accounts and realized it was an earthquake. The U.S. Geological Survey said the second quake was the most severe, with a magnitude of 5.6 on the Richter scale and was centered about 45 miles northeast of Oklahoma City. The first quake occurred early Saturday morning and was a 4.7 magnitude shaker centered about 40 miles east of oklahoma city, followed by two smaller aftershocks. There were no injuries reported. For the most part, the quakes knocked pictures off the wall, cracked concrete foundations and highways in central Oklahoma. However, the Saturday night quake destroyed at least one two-story house, that of Joe and Mary Reneau, of Sparks, Okla., who lost almost every prize possession in 60 seconds. “We literally grabbed a bed to stabilize ourselves,” he said. From the living room where the chimney literally crashed through the roof, to the kitchen where smashed glass littered the floor, the quake devastated the home without any warning, he said. ABC Radio reports this part of the state has seen a lot of shaking recently, including a dozen aftershocks Sunday alone. There is a fault line here, but seismologists aren’t sure why it’s suddenly so active. It continues what’s been a long year for Oklahoma — 2011 broke the records for the hottest summer, the coldest temperature, the most snowfall, the highest wind speed, the largest hail and now the strongest earthquake in state history. There were no immediate reports of damage in Franklin County or the surrounding area.
Monday, Nov. 7, 10:30 a.m.
