Update Saturday, April 6, 9:45am In a family email Friday at 5:20pm, Dr. Toni Jones said:
“Inspections did reveal cracks in new locations at Central Middle School. We have been communicating with CMS staff and families directly throughout the day. Engineers will be onsite tomorrow (Saturday) to determine the status of the building and we will update CMS families if any site adjustments need to be made for Monday.”
Update 12:25pm: Greenwich Schools Superintendent Dr. Toni Jones said the Greenwich Fire Marshal has posted CMS closed.
“Given the idea that we believe there are new cracks in new locations, engineers will be onsite tomorrow (Saturday) for further inspection. The Town of Greenwich Building Department has also been notified.”
Jones said the school would continue to operate on the normal schedule, but parents were being encouraged to pick up their children between now (12:25pm) and 2:00pm by coming around the back of Greenwich High School, by the entrance of the Performing Arts Center. She noted Greenwich Police will be onsite to assist with traffic control, and buses continue to be scheduled for normal dismissal. Families with a child who has sports equipment or musical instruments in the CMS building, the Fire Marshal has approved them to pick them up between 2:00 and 3:00pm.
Update 12:15pm: from Deputy Chief Mark Zuccerella said all CMS students had been safely relocated.
Update 11:47am: DC Zuccerella
- We have Officers in area helping with the re-location and traffic
- School IS NOT DISSMISSED. Just re-located
- Police ask people to not come to the area, as it will just traffic worse.
- BoE is informing parents and giving updates
- No one hurt or anything like that
- All kids are finishing relocation right now.
- GPD has enough people on hand to deal with this re-location as well as any other call for service.
Update 11:10am: Greenwich Schools superintendent Dr. Toni Jones said in a message that everyone in the districts buildings was safe after the earthquake Friday morning, but Central Middle School was being vacated out of an abundance of caution. She said buses had been dispatched to move students to Greenwich High School and that immediately, the Facilities Department conducted inspections on all the district’s buildings to look for visible damage.
Notably plans are in the works to tear down CMS and build a new middle school. The school was constructed in 1958 and condemned in Feb 2022 after building official Bill Marr declared it “Dangerous and Unsafe for Human Occupancy.” After it was shored up and mended it was deemed be safe for students to return while plans for a new school are undertaken.
Dr. Jones said she would update the community if more is learned and that the town had not enacted any emergency protocols after the unexpected event.
So far, we are not aware of any structural damage here in Greenwich, but out of an abundance of caution, the decision has been made to relocate Central Middle School to Greenwich High School.
— Greenwich PD PIO (@GreenwichCTPD) April 5, 2024
Greenwich Police said they were not aware of any structural damage here in Greenwich. If anyone has any concerns or finds issues to report, please contact the Greenwich Police Department’s non-emergency number at 203-622-8000 and hit the option for dispatch. If there is an emergency please call 911. Please be safe and let emergency services know if you find any issues out there as a result of this earthquake.
Original Story: 10:58am
It’s been two years since we reported an earthquake felt in Greenwich. Back on Jan 27, 2022there was an earthquake centered in Cos Cob with a 1.4 ml (Richter local magnitude) and a depth of 3.1 miles.
On Friday morning, this reporter’s house in downtown Greenwich shook at least 30 seconds.
After posting a question on Facebook readers immediately responded they experienced it as well.
Readers from all parts of Greenwich as well as Long Island, Stamford, Fairfield, and New York City responded immediately that they experienced it as well.
According to earthquake.usgs.gov, the event was a magnitude 4.7 earthquake 2 miles from Tewksbury, New Jersey at 10:23am.
The epicenter was near Whitehouse Station, NJ. According to the US Geological Survey.
According to Reuters, the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre initially measured the quake at 5.5 magnitude on the Richter scale.
We will continue to update the story as more information becomes available.
Map USGS
