COLBERT, Wash. – After neighbors shared an experience that left many of us startled, it was confirmed that the shaking felt in our homes on Tuesday and Wednesday resulted from rock blasts being performed at a construction site just off Midway Road.
NonStop Local confirmed with a neighbor Wednesday afternoon that those who live within 300 feet of the site were notified the blasts would be happening. However, that left those who live over 300 feet away wondering what was causing the ground beneath their feet to shake.
Concerns flooded social media and phone calls to the newsroom Wednesday morning, many people thinking the shaking was coming from earthquakes.
Jennifer Allen lives out of the 300-foot-zone in Colbert, and she woke up to her bed shaking Wednesday morning, not knowing what caused the commotion.
“No idea, and I yelled at my husband, and said, ‘I think that was an earthquake,’” Jennifer Allen said. “And he said, ‘Spokane doesn’t get earthquakes.’
Sometimes, maybe, but the shakes were not earthquakes.
“It happened about seven times yesterday. Once it happened more regularly, I realized it wasn’t an earthquake, it was somebody developing around here, blasting rocks,” Allen said.
Allen hit it on the nose. Rock blasts have been rocking neighborhood homes in Colbert for a couple of days. While those within 300 feet of the work were notified, people like Allen were left without warning.
“It is frustrating because I feel like we are close enough and the house shook, it wasn’t just the rattling of the windows, the house itself shook,” she said. “It would have been nice to been told because I was concerned after the fifth time is this going to damage the house.”
Allen’s home didn’t suffer any damage, and the good news is that it looks like there are only a few more blasts left to do. A neighbor who lives close by the action said the contractors told them the work should be done either Thursday or Friday this week.
