ATLANTA — People across Georgia were woken up by an earthquake early Wednesday.
The U.S. Geological Survey reported the quake happened around 4:15 a.m. near Decatur, Tennessee. It had a magnitude of 4.4. An aftershock of 3.3 magnitude happened about 15 minutes later.
Severe Weather Team 2 Meteorologist Brad Nitz said two other aftershocks happened later Wednesday.
There have been 4 earthquakes this morning. The M4.4 quake we felt and three aftershocks. The plotting is kind of jumbled because 3 of them happened in almost exactly the same location. pic.twitter.com/VevnFfWTRW
— Brad Nitz (@BradNitzWSB) December 12, 2018
[READ: Georgia reacts to the rare earthquake]
Channel 2 Action News received dozens of phone calls in the minutes following the quake.
We spoke to geophysicist, Robert Sanders, from the U.S. Geological Survey on Channel 2 Action News This Morning who said that aftershocks were possible throughout the day after the quake.
[DOWNLOAD: WSB-TV's News App for alerts on any new aftershocks]
The earthquake was the second-strongest on record in East Tennessee, according to the USGS. The strongest was a magnitude 4.7 near Maryville in 1973.
[10 things to know about earthquake that rattled Georgia]
Confirmed: A Magnitude 4.4 #earthquake - 11km NNE of Decatur, Tennessee.
— Brad Nitz (@BradNitzWSB) December 12, 2018
We felt this in Atlanta. https://t.co/9QpWLw4Ci9
There have been several small earthquakes in northwest Georgia over the past few years, including a 1.9 magnitude quake near Villanow, in Walker County, in August.
A 2.7 quake was reported in Catoosa County, near Fort Oglethorpe, in January, and a 2.3 one hit Trion, in Chattooga County, in November 2017. In July 2017, a 2.2 quake was registered just north of LaFayette in Walker County.
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