A powerful earthquake off the coast of Cuba sent rippling effects beyond the island to here in Tampa Bay.
“I just felt something, you know, I can’t explain it,” Selen Ozcan Avat said.
Ozcan Avat said she was working from home in South Tampa when she suddenly felt the shaking begin.
“I just got nervous. I thought it was me, like I was dizzy or something, or I was getting sick. Then it slowed down and it started again.
She said, surprisingly, her cats didn’t seem to notice.
“My cats! I just wanted to check on them because we all know that cats feel it ahead of time. They didn’t actually. They didn’t even bother,” Ozcan Avat said.
The United States Geological Survey said the fairly large earthquake happened about 50 miles northwest of Cuba.
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“It’s unlikely but possible that you will feel some shaking from aftershocks. It’s going to have to be a pretty large earthquake to be felt in Florida,” Paul Earle with USGS said.
Steven McNutt’s with the University of South Florida said earthquakes are uncommon in Florida. For people here in Tampa Bay, this should just serve as a reminder that natural disasters can happen anywhere.
“Earthquakes do occur scattered around. If there’s something that we need to be aware of and take the most basic steps. There’s simple things like don’t put heavy stuff on the top shelf, bolt any large object that could fall over. Find a way to attach it to the wall just as an extra safety measure.
USGS said reports of people saying they felt something stretch up along the Gulf coast and as far inland as Orlando. There are also dozens of reports up in the panhandle.
USGS said right now they have not received any reports of any damage. They also said it is very unlikely that a tsunami would develop.