Magnitude 5.8 earthquake rouses slumbering Montana residents
LINCOLN, Montana — An earthquake strong enough to rouse sleeping residents more than 30 miles (48 kilometers) from its epicenter struck western Montana early Thursday.
A magnitude 5.8 earthquake hit just after midnight about 6 miles (9.7 kilometers) southeast of Lincoln, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Residents in Lincoln briefly lost power and there was a gas leak in Helena, the National Weather Service in Great Falls said on Twitter.
The Independent Record reports (https://bit.ly/2tjvI12 ) that people felt the quake as far away as Bozeman, Idaho, and Great Falls.
Ray Anderson, 76, tells The Associated Press that it was the strongest seismic activity he had ever felt while living in Helena, which is about 34 miles away from the quake’s epicenter.
He said his wife told him the temblor woke up the dogs.
The most recent quake of a similar magnitude was 12 years ago, according to the USGS.
Musician John Mayer, a part-time Bozeman resident, took to Twitter to marvel at how long it had been since an earthquake of this size had stricken the area.
“Look at years and then ’26 minutes ago,'” he wrote on Twitter.
There were no immediate reports of injuries.
