New Madrid Quake Strikes Beneath Missouri Interstate

It sounds like the plot of a made-for-TV movie, but it really just happened in southern Missouri. A New Madrid Fault quake just happened directly under a Missouri interstate, but the good news is it wasn't big enough to be worthy of a movie.

UPDATE: Original quake has now been followed up by another smaller New Madrid quake near the first one according to the USGS.

ORIGINAL STORY: While doing my daily check of the USGS earthquake site, I noticed there was a quake in the southern Missouri region, but it looked different. When I zoomed in, I could see why. This is the epicenter for an earthquake that either hit right before midnight on Wednesday or early Thursday morning. It was directly beneath I-155 in southern Missouri.

The good news is this was nothing more than a minor 2.3 quake which is still slightly larger than the normal Missouri boot heel quakes that are between 1 and 2 in magnitude. Still, it was small enough that nobody reported feeling it (yet) and, no, it did NOT damage I-155. You might laugh at me saying that, but you'd be surprised how many people think that nearly every earthquake is capable of bringing a highway overpass down. Yes, we watch too many disaster movies.

This minor Missouri quake is a good reminder though that a major New Madrid quake likely would cause travel problems including some interstates. At the very least, authorities would need to check bridges for structural problems if a major shaker ever hit Missouri. Fortunately, this remains in the realm of made-for-TV movies. Let's hope it stays that way for a long time to come.