6.5 Magnitude Earthquake Hits Idaho; State’s Largest Since 1983

On Tuesday evening, a magnitude-6.5 earthquake hit Idaho. The earthquake was the state’s largest in nearly 40 years. The U.S. Geological Survey reported that the earthquake’s epicenter was outside of Stanley, about 80 miles northeast of Boise.

According to Boise State Public Radio, there was also shaking in Oregon, eastern Washington, Montana, and Canada.

“Stuff was flying all over the place,” Stanley Mayor Steve Botti said. “I was upstairs and I tried to walk down the steps and I couldn’t because it was shaking too much.”

“At my house, pictures flew off the wall and stuff fell, but there was no structural damage. But it was very loud. It sounded like a freight train and very severe shaking,” Botti shared.

6.5 magnitude earthquake hits southern Idaho; Cache Valley residents report feeling it. https://t.co/BWWJu75EVi pic.twitter.com/cXM5JxMWqb

— The Herald Journal (@HJNews) April 2, 2020

ABC News reported that according to Marcus Smith, an emergency room health unit coordinator at St. Luke's Wood River Medical Center, the hospital shook but the quake didn't interfere with the treatment of any patients.

“It felt like a wave going through the ground, so I knew right away what it was. It just felt like waves going through the ground,” he said.

“At first I thought it was thunder, weird thunder, but then the house was moving and I realized this is an earthquake — a really big earthquake,” said Melissa Hawkins who lives in northwest Boise. “It felt like it was in Boise.”

This recent earthquake was the most powerful one since a 6.9-magnitude struck Borah Peak in 1983. It came less than two weeks after a 5.7-magnitude hit Salt Lake City.