Phoenix, Arizona residents shaken by three earthquakes

November 2015 – PHOENIX, AZ – A string of earthquakes north of Phoenix gave the Valley a rare jolt Sunday night, and the largest – a magnitude 4.1 just before 11:30 p.m. – rattled homes across the region. The series of at least three quakes generated no reports of notable damage, but left people swaying or stunned from Black Canyon City, closest to the epicenter, to Camp Verde and across metro Phoenix as far as Queen Creek.

In central Phoenix and elsewhere, the largest quake came as one quick rap – a bit like a distant explosion without the sound, or an unexpected bang on the door. Tempe City Councilwoman Lauren Kuby lives in central Tempe near Alameda Drive and College Avenue. “I just heard this rumble and this movement and I thought it was my dog falling off the bed,” she said. “It felt like a rumble and a slight movement and then like a thud.” The quakes were centered along the Agua Fria River a few miles north of Black Canyon City, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Black Canyon City is located about 20 miles north of Phoenix, a community bisected by the I-17 with a population of about 2,600 people. Before the highway opened, it formerly was a settlement along the scenic main route from Phoenix to Prescott. Now, Black Canyon City is perhaps best known to Valley residents as just another name on a road sign on the drive up to Flagstaff – along with Bumble Bee, Cordes Junction and the like – as well as the home of Rock Springs Café. Arizona isn’t exactly a hub for seismic activity, but the state has had its fair shake of, well, shakes. No one has ever been killed or injured due to an Arizona earthquake in recorded history, according to the United States Geological Survey. But there have been some notable tremors to rattle the state. –AZ Central