ST. CLAIR SHORES, Mich. (WXYZ) — A sudden boom and violent shaking Tuesday afternoon in St. Clair Shores left residents confused and businesses damaged, with many initially believing they had experienced an earthquake.
Watch Peter Maxwell's video report:
The mysterious event, which lasted only seconds, caused significant damage to a 7-Eleven store at Little Mack and 11 Mile, where surveillance video captured the floor rising and buckling, destroying approximately eight feet of tile flooring.
Web Extra: Surveillance camera captures floor moving
"Very subtle… pew, pew, pew… popping noises," said Mike Burkell, a 7-Eleven worker who witnessed the incident. "I heard like ice breaking… I looked up and the next thing I know, the floor was rising underneath me."
Residents across the community felt the sudden jolt, with some describing an intensifying shake that left them bewildered.
"It kind of started… got harder, got more intense… and then just fell off," said Kayre Morrison, a St. Clair Shores resident.
Morrison, who grew up in California and has experienced earthquakes, immediately recognized the familiar sensation.
"Suddenly, the entire room started going. I thought, okay, I've experienced this before. I know what this is," Morrison said.
The event left a crack in Morrison's kitchen and created a lasting memory she described as "a unique experience… a real attention-getter."
However, the U.S. Geological Survey confirmed that the National Earthquake Information Center reviewed data from nearby seismic stations and found no sign of an earthquake.
The likely culprit? A frost quake, according to 7 News Detroit Meteorologist Mike Taylor.
"Frost quakes are something that's fairly rare, but they can happen. Anytime you're dealing with a deep freeze like metro Detroit is recovering from," Taylor said. "We'll see these temperatures that go prolonged below the freezing mark or even near zero on occasions that can cause ground water to freeze once it's frozen of course it turns to ice and that ice exerts pressure on the surface and also in the soil when you exert that pressure it can crack the soil and that can also cause not only a rift but also some shifting."
The phenomenon occurs when groundwater freezes during prolonged cold temperatures, expanding and exerting pressure that can crack soil and cause both audible sounds and ground movement.
While not an earthquake, the frost quake left its mark on the St. Clair Shores community, sparking widespread discussion on social media as residents sought explanations for the unusual experience.
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