TAMPA, Fla. — The United States Geological Survey (USGS) said a 6.1 magnitude earthquake was reported off the coast of Cuba around 2 p.m. on June 8.
Viewers and residents around the Tampa Bay area have reported feeling the earthquake.
Watch: Chief meteorologist Denis Phillips talks about the earthquake
Ron Custard of Davenport called into the newsroom, saying the earthquake shook him up and it "felt like a tremor."
On Tampa Bay 28's Facebook post about the earthquake, we received this comment:
Custard added his home shook with the glass and cabinets in his home rattling. He said this is the first time he has felt anything like this in his 29 years of being a Davenport resident.
Custard also said an electrical pole outside of his home is leaning due to the earthquake, and he has since contacted Duke Energy.
Watch more on the earthquake from Tampa Bay 28 reporter Jada Williams
No tsunami threats to the United States have been issued, per the USGS.
We also talked to multiple people in person about what they felt.
Charles Gallagher felt the earthquake while driving into a downtown St. Pete parking garage
Charles Gallagher was driving into a parking garage in downtown St. Petersburg when he felt something unusual.
"I'm driving into a parking garage, and I'm feeling, like, a little bit, like, a movement," Gallagher said.
He initially assumed it was just the normal sway of the structure, but something felt off.
"That's, like, kind of more than I recall on parking garages moving like that," Gallagher said.
It wasn't until he walked into the building that he got answers. Three people immediately asked if he had felt the earthquake.
"I'm like, my gosh, no way, like, what, you know?" Gallagher said.
He went online and found reports of an earthquake in Cuba.
Gallagher, who was born and raised in Florida and has lived in the St. Petersburg area since 1998, said he has seen plenty of hurricanes and even the occasional tornado, but nothing like this.
"Earthquake is definitely not on the bingo card, as they say," Gallagher said.
Alyssa Evans and her coworkers evacuated their building after feeling shaking on the 9th floor
Alyssa Evans was at work on the 9th floor of her building when the shaking started.
"We were working and we felt some shakes. We didn't know what it was initially. We thought that there was something wrong with the building, so we all freaked out," Evans said.
Her boss told everyone to leave, and the entire office evacuated.
"We came down here and then we saw news reports that there was an earthquake," Evans said.
Evans said the experience was frightening precisely because no one knew what was happening.
"We didn't immediately think earthquake because we're in Florida, it's just not something that you immediately gravitate towards," Evans said.
Her mind went to a more familiar fear: structural failure.
"I know that there have been building issues like in Miami, particularly with like building collapsing. So that was our initial thought. Like we thought that there was maybe something structurally wrong with the building," Evans said.
She said there was no visible damage, and the shaking was not severe.
"It wasn't a serious shake. We just felt it and we felt uneasy about it," Evans said.
After about 10 to 15 minutes outside, managers gave the all-clear and everyone returned to work. Evans said the strangest part was learning just how far away the source of the shaking was.
"We didn't know what was happening in Florida and then we saw the news reports that it was in Cuba and it was just kind of, it was crazy to hear that it was something happened so far we could feel the effects of it here," Evans said.
Marijka White heard from building owners and her marketing contacts that something had shaken downtown St. Pete
Marijka White, director of sales at Fort Lawrence Central, was standing in the lobby when building owners started coming downstairs with questions.
"Some of the owners came down and go, Hey, did you feel that?" White said.
White said she had not felt anything herself, but the owners described their computers moving at their desks.
"They were sitting at their desk and they felt that they, their computer moved," White said.
She learned more when she heard from her marketing company, whose staff had been evacuated from a downtown building.
"I had happened to hear that from my marketing company that they were evacuated on a downtown building, uh, an older building, and everybody was outside and, uh, so that's how I found out that there was an earthquake in Cuba apparently," White said.
White said she has lived in Florida for about 40 years and has never experienced anything like it.
"I've been in Florida for, well God 40 years, and I've never heard of an earthquake so this was new to me," White said.
Richard Hughes watched his office window shift and led his staff out of the building
Richard Hughes, of Clear PH Design in downtown St. Petersburg, said he first thought something was wrong with him when the shaking started.
"I was in my office and felt kind of a strange movement where I was looking across at the opposite garage and I started to see that the building was actually moving and I wasn't moving, so I felt dizzy, but I thought it was me, but it was actually the building moving," Hughes said.
He walked over to check with his team and found they had all felt the same thing. The reaction, he said, was immediate.
"A little bit of fear, actually a little bit scary," Hughes said.
The group decided to evacuate using the stairs. Outside, Hughes said the conversation among people from multiple businesses centered on trying to figure out what had happened.
"Was it sinkholes? Was it, uh, some, something from, you know, was there an explosion? Uh, so a lot of kind of rumors at first to see, you know, what was going on," Hughes said.
He said a man came down from the 21st floor of the nearby Merrill Lynch building looking shaken and immediately got on the phone.
"He was nervous and got on the phone right away, calling his wife, I think, to try to see if she had any news or any information," Hughes said.
Hughes said his building, which he believes dates to the late 1960s or early 1970s, gave him additional concern.
"It's definitely an older building, so we were, we made sure we got out quickly just in case, so I don't think it has the modern structure of some of these other buildings around town," Hughes said.
From his office window, he said he could see the building shifting.
"I could just see my window actually moving, whereas the garage over there was kind of static. So, uh, I could see that my actual building shifting slightly. Probably 1 inch, maybe 1 inch or two," Hughes said.
He said learning the shaking came from an earthquake originating in Cuba was difficult to process.
"It's still hard to understand that it comes all the way from possibly Cuba," Hughes said.
This is a breaking news story. Stay with Tampa Bay 28 on all platforms for the latest information as it becomes available.
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