Magnitude 3.6 earthquake hits central Illinois: USGS

STANDARD, Ill. - A 3.6-magnitude earthquake hit Illinois Wednesday morning, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

At first, some people in La Salle thought it was a plane crash, someone pounding on the door, or even a chemical explosion, but no one ever guessed it would be an earthquake in north central Illinois. 

Many said they were glad it wasn’t worse.

The sound was hard enough for Andrea Sugg to hear. She was glad she didn’t have to feel the earthquake.

Her boutique's surveillance camera caught a loud booming sound. 

"You can hear in the video the rattling of the bells as well as some rippling sound of the windows in the store," said Sugg, owner of Bold and Curvy Boutique and La Salle. 

The shaking woke Hannah Schnieder and her son up out of a deep sleep. 

"I was just really protective, and he luckily was in bed with me, and I put my arms around him and immediately looked out the window, and all my neighbor's dogs were barking, and people were out in their yards with flashlights," said Schnieder. 

She has felt earthquakes before in California, but it took her a minute to register since they are in Illinois.

Ron Riepe is a former geology professor at the College of Lake County. 

He says yes, earthquakes do happen here.

"Nothing major. We’ll get some from time to time. Up in this part of the state called the sandwich fault zone," said Riepe.

Riepe says it’s unsurprising that some of Chicagoland also felt the shake.

"It depends on when those fractures adjust. It could be 50 miles away, it could be 100 miles away, but it depends on what’s below your part of the countryside," said Riepe.

Schnieder says since everyone is okay, she is glad Myles got to experience it.

"He said it was pretty cool today, talking after the fact that it was pretty cool to experience that. I think it was pretty cool for him to experience that, too," said Schneider. 

The U.S. Geological Survey shows that this quake is the strongest recorded since at least September 2017. That's when a 3.8-magnitude earthquake struck near Bellmont.