Pressure washing in Summerville, SC

SUMMERVILLE, S.C. (WCIV) — A series of small earthquakes over the past week has startled residents across Summerville and parts of the Lowcountry, marking an unusually active stretch for an area that typically feels only a handful of noticeable tremors each year.

Three earthquakes were confirmed near Summerville in just seven days, prompting concern, conversation, and questions about what’s happening beneath the ground, even though no injuries or major damage were reported.

For many neighbors, the earthquakes came without warning. Shirlene, a mom and longtime Summerville resident of 35 years, said the experience was frightening, unlike anything she remembers feeling before.

“That was scary,” she said. “Because it made the house move, and the sound was so loud.”

She recalled being shaken awake as her home shifted.

“I was scared. I was afraid — especially the house shift and my bed,” Shirlene said. “And the sound — it was really scary.”

Other residents reported similar experiences, describing houses shaking for several seconds and loud noises that sounded like explosions. One neighbor’s Ring doorbell camera even captured audio from the moment the earthquake struck, with a booming sound clearly audible in the recording.

Jessica, another Summerville resident, said she felt and heard one of the quakes while at work. “I happened to be working at the library, and I was just exiting the bathroom when I felt this shaking and heard it too,” she said. “I thought, ‘Well, that’s not the HVAC.’”

According to officials, the most recent quake was recorded early Monday morning in Dorchester County near the Kings Grant area. That tremor measured a magnitude 1.6. Before that, a stronger 2.9 magnitude earthquake struck late Saturday night, just before 10:40 p.m., rattling homes across the Tri-County area. Its shallow depth made it more noticeable to residents, even though experts classified it as minor.

The first quake in the series occurred Tuesday afternoon, measuring magnitude 2.3. Residents reported shaking and loud noises, but no damage.

Why are these earthquakes happening?

Local civil and structural engineer Gene Brislin, who also lives in Summerville, says the earthquakes are the result of stress being released deep beneath the Earth’s surface. “We are in a bad spot,” Brislin explained. “As stresses build up, the crack gets a little bigger, there’s some stress relief, and we get vibrations. That’s what happened in Summerville.”

Brislin says tectonic plates, massive slabs of rock beneath the Earth’s surface, are constantly moving. Most of the time, that movement goes unnoticed. But along cracks in the Earth’s crust, known as fault lines, plates can become stuck. One of those fault lines runs through the Lowcountry. As stress builds and is released in smaller bursts, residents may feel minor earthquakes.

“The threshold for the smaller ones to occur in terms of stress is much lower,” Brislin said. “In my opinion, the more smaller ones we have, the better off we are.”

Experts stress that these minor earthquakes are not necessarily a sign of a larger event to come.

“Many times, it’s not indicative of some bigger event that’s going to occur,” Brislin said. “It’s just a sign of this bad spot that we’re in.”

Brislin says helicorders are devices used to record seismic signals from a seismometer. Each line of data represents a specific time interval, allowing for the visualization of seismic activity over time.

Officials urge preparedness, awareness — not panic

Officials say South Carolina experiences dozens of earthquakes each year, most of them too small to be felt. While the recent activity has drawn attention, there are no reports of injuries or significant damage.

Still, emergency officials encourage residents to:

Some neighbors said the recent shaking prompted them to double-check their insurance policies, just in case. The recent earthquakes have also renewed discussion at the State House. State Rep.Gil Gatch says the activity highlights the importance of awareness, especially for people living near fault lines.

“I filed this bill wanting people to just be aware,” Gatch said. “We have dozens and dozens of mini earthquakes that nobody ever knows happen because nobody can really feel them.”

Gatch is the main sponsor of House Bill 3227, which would require insurance companies to notify policyholders about the availability of earthquake insurance, particularly for those living in fault-line areas. The bill has been referred to the Committee on Labor, Commerce, and Industry. Gatch says he hopes lawmakers will act before a more damaging earthquake occurs.

While the recent earthquakes have been unsettling for many, experts emphasize there is no immediate cause for concern.

“These smaller earthquakes are really just signs of where the weak spots in the Earth’s crust are,” Brislin said. For now, neighbors like Shirlene say they’re relieved no one was hurt, but they’ll be paying closer attention the next time their house creaks or the ground feels unsteady.

John Travis Peterson, 38, of Summerville, was the operator of Cane Bay Tire and Auto LLC

SUMMERVILLE, S.C. —

A South Carolina business owner is accused of continuing to operate his business without a license and threatening an official investigating his business.

According to the South Carolina Department of Revenue, John Travis Peterson, 38, of Summerville, was the operator of Cane Bay Tire and Auto LLC, whose retail license was revoked in June 2025.

Peterson was arrested on Monday and charged with four counts of furnishing a false tax document and one count each of operating without a retail license, making a threat, and simple assault.

According to warrants, when SCDOR employees returned to the business to provide revocation orders and violation documents to Peterson, Peterson gave a false name and signed the documents using this name on multiple occasions.

He is also accused of making threats and assaulting an SCDOR employee in an attempt to force them to leave the business’s location.

The following is taken from the warrant:

"When the defendant received the written violation, he became enraged, tearing up the notice and telling the victim and his subordinate to leave. The victim and his subordinate left that building and headed towards another building situated on the property to investigate a claim the defendant made of that building being a separate business. Before the victim could get to the front door of the other building, the defendant positioned himself in front of the victim, blocking his access.

"The defendant raised his voice at the victim stating 'I told you to leave. You are going to leave, or I will forcibly remove you.' The defendant kept repeating the phrase 'you are going to leave, or I will force you to leave.'

The defendant is also accused of pushing the SCDOR employee repeatedly with his chest and belly while yelling.

If convicted, Peterson faces a maximum penalty of one year in prison and/or a fine of $5,000 for each count of furnishing a false tax document, 30 days in jail and/or a $500 fine for each of the assault and threat counts, and 30 days in jail and/or a fine of $200 for the charge of operating without a retail license.

SUMMERVILLE — A train derailment the morning of Jan. 10 prompted fears of a potential toxic chemical spill and led authorities to temporarily issue a shelter-in-place directive, which was then lifted by mid-afternoon.

A Norfolk Southern train derailed at 9:51 a.m. at 2450 West 5th North St., the local name for U.S. Highway 78, near industrial truck manufacturer KION North America’s Summerville plant.

Authorities shut down Highway 78 on the northern end of town, from Industrial Road to Jedburg Road. Dorchester County Fire Chief Tres Atkinson said that hazmat teams from Norfolk Southern and around the region assessed the scene.

“We have determined that there's no immediate danger to the public other than immediate areas that we’ll be working to mitigate the cars that have come off the track,” he said.

Atkinson said the scene was turned over to Norfolk Southern for remediation and asked area residents to “give those people room to work and do their job and get actual scene cleaned up.”

He noted that the fire department is “maintaining a presence on scene with Norfolk Southern” in case of an emergency.

Though the shelter ordered lifted, officials encouraged residents to avoid the area. Highway 78 will “remain closed for the duration of the incident,” a Facebook post from the Dorchester County Sheriff’s Office said.

Atkinson said the highway would remain closed overnight and that Norfolk Southern had estimated the cleanup would be done “sometime in the morning” Jan. 11.

Kasandra Jenkins, a Norfolk Southern spokesperson, said a tank car involved in the derailment carries chlorobenzene, a toxic chemical, but was empty.

Mayor Russ Touchberry posted a video to the town’s Facebook page informing residents of the derailment and cautioning them to avoid the area. He told the Summerville Journal Scene, a Post and Courier affiliate paper, that he was told the train was “carrying a small amount” of chlorobenzene and there was “potential” for a leak, which is why the shelter-in-place was issued.

Chlorobenzene, a flammable liquid, is widely used as a solvent, degreaser and chemical intermediate in producing dyes, pharmaceuticals and pesticides. It affects the central nervous system with prolonged exposure.

Sheriff’s office spokesperson Steven Wright said Highway 78 will reopen once the impacted railroad tracks reopen. Until then, he said, deputies will be patrolling the area to make sure nobody gets too close to the scene.

“We all have that curiosity sense, but it really delays the process if there are citizens trying to see what's going on,” Wright said. “So, we just encourage people to stay away through the area until it is clear and everything's back up.”

Many of the industrial businesses in the area are regularly closed on Saturdays. Dorchester Paws, which is down the road from the derailment site, operated normally. Adoption Supervisor Jimmie Tedder said that while there wasn't a major impact, animals were kept inside most of the day as a precaution.

When Joslyn Scahill, an office manager at Inspire Gymnastics on Industrial Road, spoke to The Post and Courier around 4 p.m., the sound of train horns could be heard through the phone.

"Did you hear that? I guess it's moving again," Scahill said.

The derailment happened a mile-and-a-half away from the gym. Classes were happening at the time as road closures made getting in and out of the area more difficult.

"It was scary when everyone's phones went off because of the emergency alert," Scahill said. "It said to shelter in place because of an active incident. A lot runs through your mind when you read that. You think of active shooter situations, not a train derailment."

County spokesperson Erin Pomrenke told The Post and Courier that officials aim to “provide the most relevant, accurate information to residents, especially in situations with public safety concerns.” She noted that after the initial alert went out, more updates were posted on the county’s social media pages and provided to media outlets.

“After incidents occur, such as today’s incident, the County assesses approaches to continue to provide our residents with quality service and communication,” she said.

Recent history of train derailments

Norfolk Southern’s most-famous train derailment was Feb. 3, 2023, near East Palestine, Ohio. That incident involved 38 derailed cars. The train was carrying toxic chemicals and caught fire. Residents within a one-mile radius were evacuated. Norfolk Southern had to remove more than 167,000 tons of soil and more than 39 million gallons of water from the site due to pollution from the derailment.

A lawsuit filed February 2025 claims that seven residents, including a baby, died as a result of the toxic disaster. The National Transportation Safety Board blamed a defective wheel bearing for the accident.

A 2023 Federal Railroad Administration examination of Norfolk Southern’s safety record over 10 years documented 163 derailments and an average of two hazardous material leaks per year.

For example, a Norfolk Southern train accident in Rossville, Tenn., train yard released about 500 gallons of maelic anhydride, a chemical that can damage eyes and the respiratory tract. The report said that in 2018, a 16-car Norfolk Southern derailment in Loudonville, Ohio, released 30,000 gallons of hazardous liquified petroleum gas into the air.

Norfolk Southern had two train derailments last year.

In February, 20 cars derailed near Attica, Ohio, and leaked alcohol and ethanol, though the local sheriff’s office said there was no public danger. In August, about 10 Norfolk Southern cars derailed near Harrisburg, Pa. The city’s fire chief said there were no hazmat dangers and no injuries.

The Federal Railroad Administration has warned the industry about the dangers of a trend toward smaller crews and longer trains. The latter cause more wear on tracks and are more difficult for a crew to manage.

On Jan. 9, about 12 cars from a Union Pacific train derailed near the Texas-Louisiana border. News organizations report there were no HAZMAT spills.