The epicenter was at Greenback. The depth was 7.9 miles. An official at the Blount County Emergency 911 Center said they got some calls but there were no damage reported from the temblor.
GREENBACK, Tenn. (WVLT)-- Some folks got a rude awakening early Thursday morning after a minor earthquake measuring 2.4 on the Ritcher Scale shook Greenback. There were no reported damages or injuries, but it was the buzz around town.
It was what everyone at the Greenback Drugstore and Diner were talking about.
"I thought it was thunder last night," said Fire Chief Ronnie Lett. "We had come off a call and it was still cloudy. That's what we thought it was."
"I could hear them saying they woke up by the rumble, but I think it was more noise then shaking," said Corky Jackson, a waitress at the diner.
Jeane Burnett who lives in the heart of Greenback woke up to a loud noise around 1:30 a.m. She thought it might have been a large that drove by but didn't realize it was an earthquake until she got to the diner.
"I got up and looked around to see if there was a truck and I didn't see anything," she said. "I didn't know what it was until I got here."
No one was too concerned. That's because small earthquakes are common around here.
Ronald Hunt has lived in Greenback for decades. He said he's heard of one a couple of years ago but never felt one until today.
"I was asleep and something kind of shook me awake. I really didn't know what it was," said Hunt who was surprised to find out it was an earthquake. "After you hear about it, it makes perfect sense."
As talk about the early morning rumbling winds down, people hope to hear a different kind of roar tomorrow.
"Tomorrow night is the play off game for our Greenback Cherokees, so that will be old news by the morning, I"m sure," Jackson said.