Advertisement

Kelowna tower resident reports feeling coastal quake

Click to play video: 'Earthquake off B.C. Coast felt in Kelowna'
Earthquake off B.C. Coast felt in Kelowna
Sue Miller said the blinds in her 21st-storey Kelowna condo were dancing and her light fixture was rocking back and forth on Wednesday night at the same time a quake registering 5.8 magnitude happened off the B.C. Coast. "Some women may have thought it was a ghost." – Jul 4, 2019

Sue Miller knew she was experiencing an earthquake when the blinds started to sway and the light fixtures started to swing.

“Other women might think it was a ghost. No. It was an earthquake,” Miller told Global News. “The shaking lasted around a minute.”

A 5.8-magnitude earthquake struck off B.C.’s coast on Wednesday night, almost 1,000 kilometres away. The quake was only 10 kilometres deep.

Miller was watching TV in her condo on the 21st floor of the Waterscapes Skye building on Kelowna’s Sunset Drive around 9:30 p.m., when she experienced the shaking.

“I heard a noise coming from the windows, like where there’s a really bad wind storm,” she said. “Then I saw the blinds moving. I checked my dining room pendent light and it was going back and forth.”

Story continues below advertisement

The 58-year-old felt the building sway when she stood up.

Breaking news from Canada and around the world sent to your email, as it happens.

“It was swaying back and forth like when you’re on a boat in a storm,” she said.

The shaking was familiar to Miller, having felt a quake from her condo back on July 6, 2017.

On that date, a 5.8-magnitude shake was registered in Montana and was reported to be felt between Vancouver and Kelowna at the time.

“The building manager posted about it the next day,” Miller said of the 2017 event.

Story continues below advertisement

“He told tenants not to go to the lobby because it wasn’t the safest place, but told us to stay in our condos.”

Miller said she was feeling like she had vertigo for some time following Wednesday night’s shake.

“It’s weird standing during [an earthquake],” she said.

 

Sponsored content

AdChoices