An overnight earthquake rattled South Carolina yet again, shaking an area near a critical dam. According to USGS, the epicenter of the earthquake was in the town of Irmo, which is south and west of Columbia, South Carolina. The relatively weak magnitude 2.1 earthquake struck the area from a depth of 4.5 km at 2:32 am. This is the fifth earthquake to strike the area since February 16.
All of the earthquakes here have been located on the east side of Lake Murray, a 50,000-acre reservoir held back by a dam. If the dam broke from a natural disaster like an earthquake, it would send roughly 650 billion gallons of water into nearby communities. According to Kim Stenson, the Director of the South Carolina Emergency Management Division, a breach of the dam would subject the nearby Midlands area to catastrophic flooding, with water reaching south of I-20 into the Congaree Swamp.
South Carolina has been seismically active this year, with three key areas getting earthquakes in recent weeks: the area west of Columbia, like today’s, an area east of Columbia that has seen a long-term swarm, and an area north and west of Charleston that has seen an uptick in seismic activity lately…