MONROE COUNTY, Pa. — It started as a normal morning for staff at Century 21 Keim Realtors on Washington Street in East Stroudsburg.
"We had a settlement going on," Loren Keim said. "We had buyers buying a property and we had eight people in this room, sitting around the table, signing papers, and suddenly there was a roaring."
That roaring turned out to be a 4.8 magnitude earthquake in New Jersey that was felt in the Poconos.
Keim says the bells on the door rang out as the building shook, so everyone made their way outside.
"We really thought at first either the building got hit by something, or somebody nearby got hit by something, or something blew up because I didn't expect noise along with the shaking."
People tell Newswatch 16 when their homes began to shake, they didn't know what to think.
"Please tell me why. I'm thinking, 'OMG, did someone put shoes in the washing machine?' So, I told my boyfriend, 'Go upstairs and check the washing machine. If it's on, please turn it off.' It's so scary, and the whole building was shaking," Ivy Fox recalled.
"I actually thought that there was a giant truck that was going down the street. And I looked out the window, in fact, after it was over. I opened the door to look for the truck and all of the neighbors came out the porch at the same time, and we're all looking at each other, asking if we felt it," Ira Jolly said.
Paula Fitzpatrick owns Fitzpatrick's on Main Street in Stroudsburg. She says this earthquake wasn't as bad as the last one, which occurred about a decade ago in the Poconos.
"I think everyone was a little confused like I was because I was feeling the vibration. I thought, 'Oh, a truck is coming down there.' And I waited a couple of seconds, then I thought, 'It's feeling a little weird,'" Fitzpatrick said.
Everyone said that while this was an added excitement to their day, they were happy the buildings in our area were still standing and no one was hurt.