Joel Burgess

jburgess@citizen-times.com

WEAVERVILLE - People near a magnitude 2.5 earthquake Monday morning reported hearing strange noises and feeling vibrations.

Residents and others in the northern part of Buncombe County said they could feel something moving and called in to report rumbling, according to an emergency dispatch staffer and staff at North Buncombe High.

"We had some folks calling in saying they thought they heard thunder," the dispatcher said. "Thunder and a boom."

The small quake was 2.7 miles deep and hit at 10:43 a.m., according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

It was centered north of Weaverville, just south of Jupiter Road and west of Interstate 26, according to a map on the USGS website.

No injuries or damage was reported.

The slight tremors were felt all the way north to Tennessee and south to areas in and around West Asheville, according to an intensity map and responses from people on the USGS online system.

Thirteen people had used the online system to report feeling the quake, including seven in Weaverville, three with Asheville zip codes and one in Tellico Plains, Tennessee.

The biggest quake in the the region — which includes the mountains of North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia and parts of South Carolina — was a 5.1 magnitude tremor in 1916.

"Moderately damaging earthquakes strike the inland Carolinas every few decades, and smaller earthquakes are felt about once each year or two," the survey's website says.