Quake Felt in Port Chester, Cell Phone Service Interrupted

A 5.8-magnitude earthquake struck the Virginia area Tuesday afternoon, interrupting cell phone service to millions of customers and producing tremors that could be felt in Port Chester.

Word of the earthquake spread quickly as locals took to social media sites, tallying up anecdotes of tremors, shaking doors and strange noises. Others seemed unaware of the incident until news reports began appearing a few minutes after the 1:55 p.m. earthquake.

Reports of tremors spanned thousands of miles along the east coast, including local reports of aftershocks from the Sound Shore area to .

In Port Chester, authorities have not fielded any calls related to the quake, police Capt. John Telesca said.

Cell service providers, including Verizon and AT&T, reported network congestion for about a half hour following the quake. According to a report on CNN, the service disruptions were caused by millions of people placing calls at the same time, and weren't attributed to structural or network damage caused by the quake.

In the meantime, popular tech blog engadget includes links to statements from Verizon and T-Mobile:

Verizon Wireless has released the following statement on Twitter: "Seeing no reports of damage to our wireless network. There was some network congestion in the East after tremors. Continuing to monitor."

T-Mobile was feeling left out and sent us an email: "T-Mobile's network is experiencing higher call volumes in all areas and counties affected by the earthquake. If customers are experiencing temporary difficultly placing calls due to network congestion, we advise them to use SMS or E-Mail until call volumes return to normal."

Update, 3:30 p.m.: Indian Point is operating normally, according spokesman Jerry Nappi: "Both reactors are operating normally at full power. There are no reports of any damage on site."

Update, 4:12 p.m.: 

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has released a statement saying that the "state is initiating comprehensive reviews of critical and sensitive infrastructure including the state’s hydroelectric plants, nuclear power plants, key bridges and tunnels, and other assets."

Cuomo said he is "getting regular reports from agencies all over the state and at this time there are no reports of damage or power outages."

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