6.5 magnitude earthquake near Stanley

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI/KIDK) - A large earthquake struck near Stanley Tuesday evening, with people across a large area reporting shaking.

United States Geological Survey reports the preliminary numbers show it was a 6.5 magnitude earthquake about 20 miles northwest of Stanley in Custer County at 5:52 p.m. Tuesday.

A magnitude 4.6 aftershock was centered about 13 miles to the west north-west of Stanley at 6:41 p.m.

Marcus Smith, an emergency room health unit coordinator at St. Luke's Wood River Medical Center, said the hospital, about 65 miles south of the epicenter, shook but the quake didn't interfere with the treatment of any patients. The hospital in Blaine County is on the front line of Idaho's coronavirus outbreak, in a region with the highest per-capita rates of known COVID-19 cases in the nation outside of New York City and surrounding counties.

"It felt like a wave going through the ground, so I knew right away what it was. It just felt like waves going through the ground," he said.

The earthquake is added stress during an already stressful time for the region, but Smith said everything seemed fine, for now. "Until the next one, I guess," Smith said. "I mean, that's what we do. We're all good."

Brett Woolley, a restaurant owner in Stanley, said he heard an earthquake coming before he felt it.

"I heard the roar, and at first it sounded like the wind but then the roar was tremendous," Woolley said about 10 minutes after the earthquake. "The whole house was rattling, and I started to panic. I'm sitting here perfectly still and the water next to me is still vibrating."

It was felt across a large area from Montana to Boise to Idaho Falls and across eastern Idaho.