Quake Rattles Some Visitors’ Nerves

Tracy Nixon and Lynette Sawyer headed back Monday morning to a place where hurricanes — not earthquakes — are the norm.

“The earth is moving, and the trees are moving, and the things that shouldn’t be moving were moving!” recalled Nixon, from North Carolina. “I was like: Oh, gracious!”

The 7.2-magnitute quake took visitors by surprise. Spectators at the Kraft Nabisco Championships rolled with their experience, so to speak.

“I thought it was great,” said Tracey Whitley, who was taking a return flight to Nebraska. “I got my money’s worth coming to Palm Springs!”

Mark Weston, from Colorado, said he did not realize what the shaking was in the first place as his relatives gathered for an Easter meal. “We got up from the table and walked in the middle of the yard just to get out from underneath the house,” he said.

Some of the car rental agents tell News Channel 3 the television monitors in the baggage claim area were swaying. Additionally, some of the ceiling tiles fell. Airport workers replaced those tiles immediately, said the agents.

Amanda Blake, an Alamo agent, said she did not hesitate to run, but the sliding doors nearby would not open. “They were shaking so hard that I couldn’t move them. Finally, they just opened, and I took off as far as i could go.”

No one was hurt at the airport, and no flights were affected. But, some passengers were more than ready to return home.

“I think I like hurricanes better,” said Lynette Sawyer.