Earthquake felt in North suburbs

An earthquake centered just south of the Wisconsin border was reported Monday night and felt throughout the North and Northwest suburbs.

The U.S. Geological Survey reported the earthquake with a magnitude of 2.4 occurred at 9:54 p.m., and was centered just east of McHenry and just west of Lakemoor.

The USGS put the longitude and latitude of the earthquake at 42.340 degrees north and 88.243 degrees west. It said the origin was about 5.4 miles, deep.

That location places the origin on Chapel Hill Drive, near the McHenry Drive In.

According to residents, the earthquake sounded like a loud crack, almost like a freight train starting up. Then, the ground shook for a couple of seconds before ending.

The USGS is receiving responses from people who felt the earthquake throughout the North and Northwest suburbs. Wauconda police said they probably received between 20 and 30 calls, but the most responses were coming from McHenry.

Earthquakes with magnitudes under 2.5 often are not even felt and happen regularly. The USGS estimates there are 1.3 million quakes with magnitudes between 2.0 and 2.9 each year.