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Amherstburg Fire Chief Bruce Montone issued a news release Thursday night to report he’d contacted officials at the Fermi II nuclear power plant in Monroe, MI, across Lake Erie from Amherstburg. They told him the plant had been shut down since the weekend so was at no risk of damage by the quake.

It’s the fourth quake centred in Amherstburg in the last 42 years. The previous strongest quake was a 3.4-magnitude event in 1976.

Amherstburg’s last earthquake was a 2.2 magnitude eight years ago. However, there have been two similar-size quakes in suburban Detroit in the past 11 months.

“I thought it was an explosion,” DiCarlo said. “We live just down from the quarry in Amherstburg and it reminded me of when they use to have explosions there but only more intense.”

The U.S. Geological Survey confirmed the quake originated at a depth of five kilometres with the epicentre about five kilometres from the town.

It rates a 3.6 magnitude earthquake as moderate. It’s listed as having the potential for light damage.

“I felt it but I heard it even more,” said Windsor mayor Drew Dilkens, who lives in south Windsor. “I ran out onto my porch.

“It sounded like a plane crashed or a truck hit a post and exploded. Then I realized it was an earthquake.”

Dilkens said reports from the city’s emergency service personnel confirmed there was no damage or injuries reported around Windsor.

“I was thinking in my term I’ve had two floods, a tornado and now an earthquake,” Dilkens said. “You just never know what’s going to happen.