Wabash Valley

The Wabash Valley is a region with parts in both Illinois and Indiana. It is named for the Wabash River and spans the middle to the middle-lower portion of the river and is centered at Terre Haute, Indiana. The term Wabash Valley is frequently used in local media in Clinton, Lafayette, Mount Carmel, Princeton, Terre Haute, and Vincennes all of which are either on or near the Lower Wabash River.

Seismic activity

The Wabash Valley Fault System in southeastern Illinois, southwestern Indiana, and adjacent corner of Kentucky extends about 60 miles north-northeastward from just north of the Shawneetown and Rough Creek Fault Zones. A Magnitude 5.2 quake took place in the Wabash zone on April 18, 2008 at 09:37 UTC (04:37 CST), about 41 miles NNW of Evansville, Indiana, near the community of Bellmont, Illinois. It was felt all across southern Illinois, southern Indiana, western and central Kentucky and eastern Missouri, waking people up in Chicago and St. Louis, 123 miles away. This was followed by several aftershocks and a second, magnitude 4.6 quake at 15:14 UTC (10:14 CST). There were no injuries or serious damage reported late Friday morning, April 18, 2008. In Mt. Carmel, Illinois, 15 southeast of the epicenter, a woman was reported trapped in her home by a collapsed porch but was quickly freed and wasn't hurt, said Mickie Smith, a police dispatcher there.