>> dagen: terrific coverage there. a fox news alert. a very rare 4.8 magnitude earthquake rattleling the tri state area in new york city a short time ago. epicenter detected near white house station, new jersey. we do want to show you the moment it happened as our fox shows were on the air. watch this. you can see the cameras shaking. watch that. as reports say the earthquake was felt all the way from boston down to baltimore. let's join fox weather's coverage on when this right now. >> emergency operations center has been activated in new jersey. they urge you not to call 911 unless you have an actual emergency. but definitely -- it has a lot of people panicking. >> interesting. jane even you were saying you are speaking with your fiance and mentioning the fact that he felt the shaking. the apartment was shaking. >> this is new york city. how many of us are in high rises at this time of day. right? 36 floors up at the top. imagine that. the shaking being felt not only in new york city. we are getting reports of it in long island, pennsylvania. this is the strongest earthquake that we've felt since 1950 in northern new jersey. >> 4.9 was the strongest they have ever experienced. live shot along sixth avenue in new york city where again we have not only two ground stops at new york's jfk. also across the river. you are hearing an emergency alert tone on all of our cell phones. it is basically saying that a 4.7 -- reiterating all the information. >> thanks for an update. only an hour old. >> it was a very shallow earthquake. >> this emergency alert phone does ask for residents to please remain indoors and to only call 911 if you are injured. that's what the emergency alert tone you just heard is saying. >> this is the strongest quake since 1884 in the state of new jersey. >> we're getting the numbers in. >> even the old timers don't remember this one. sometimes when this happens a 4.7 to 4.8 magnitude the numbers waiver as they geo locate the center of this thing. an after shock is possible. >> i haven't seen it. we haven't felt an after shock. >> it doesn't mean we can't see that happen in the minutes, hours to come. that's a very real possibility. >> the next few days you could feel more. >> air traffic is something we're monitoring. the strongest earthquake since the 1800s, look at the infrastructure and make sure there is no damage. jfk halted all traffic and keeping those planes in their destination. >> if you are on an app now take a snapshot. you will never see for jfk stoppage earthquake. >> newark liberty international. the train that connect mannino to new jersey, hundreds of thousands people take this under water under the hudson subway line and at this point i have not seen any sort of delays with the path system. >> that's a great point. >> the east river crossings around here. you worry about all that. mid town tunnel. we wonder if they will look at it or shut it down. it didn't happen at rush hour. 10:19 a.m. eastern time is when it happened. >> mta, i'm not seeing any sort of emergency alerts on their website. at least for now it looks like things are okay. >> things could start ramping up, though. this is very fresh. we're an hour in. i think it takes some time to get crews together to go out to these destinations. mta, get into the subway, to the airports. i do expect that as the day goes on, we are likely to see more slowdowns and shutdowns to make sure everything is structurally sound. look at the shake intensity. how far you can see this. >> if you think you felt the earthquake in new jersey, pennsylvania, new york. the strongest earthquake new jersey felt since 1884. an epic event for northern new jersey. nobody has felt this before. it was big and shallow. that's why so many people are feeling it is because it was o only 2.6 miles deep. yeah, i tell you what. it was felt by us in studio w big time. >> i add this as well. they will continue, the united states geological survey as they continue to geo locate the center of this thing and get more information. i see their preliminary report that came out at 10:20 this morning eastern time said the depth of this earthquake was a half mile. but now it looks like the newest update is 2.9 miles. >> it's still shallow. >> that's why you can feel it. the shallower it is the more you feel the shaking. you received a bunch of text messages. >> we all did, yeah. >> from lower manhattan a friend of mine. it is being felt all around and it all came at once. >> new jersey, the most densely populated state in the united states. it's incredible how many people are being impacted by this today. millions, of course. when you look at the magnitude for earthquakes we lie within the moderate stage where we could see some minor damage out of this. see how things shape up as crews go out and check for structures. >> is it an old structure? the ones built now are built to with stand a 4.8. we aren't worried about the new skyscrapers. some of the older ones in lower manhattan, you never know. >> i experienced in kentucky a 4.3 magnitude earthquake. not a tremendous amount of damage, cosmetic damage. you may hear your windows start to rattle. you might want to make sure the double-check the alignment when you get home from work. you will start to see some of the paintings on your walls shifting. >> i was just looking up. the last earthquake that i remember feeling, many people can relate to this back in 2011, the virginia earthquake was magnitude 5.8. the shake map stretched into new jersey. there was damage done. >> to the washington monument. they had to close that one down. >> you were in kentucky when i was in kentucky. do you remember the earthquake and feeling any sort of -- have you felt an earthquake before? >> nothing like this. what a remarkable event this is. we were just showing the shake map. it is so localized. we're in studio w, bill and dana were next door when it happens on fox news channel. they didn't feel it. i was on the 15th floor, corner of the building, i didn't feel it. in the newsroom the monitors were shaking. i got a text from a buddy of mine in new jersey he said he thought his building was coming down. it was felt in long island. a buddy to the west of hartford felt it. it will fill in as more reports come in to the united states geological survey. you will see the overall coverage. you guys mentioned the fault line leading to these ground stops. yes, a shallow earthquake at about three miles depth and because of that, again, if we can pull that shake intensity map up, this was widespread across the tri state area. a lot of folks on a friday morning, the last thing they are expecting, we're talking about an eclipse. a big astronomical event. i was at the corner of the building in the fox weather newsroom the monitors were shaking >> there are big cinder blocks and pillars. >> you were in the middle of reading a story. >> we were sitting over here. >> i felt it was like a feeling of being dizzy where i felt i was a little uneven. >> the movie buff i was looking at my cup doing jurassic park. my cup was here and filled and doing one of these things you can see the ripples in my cup. we were looking up. all the lights in the studio started going back and forth. >> you will hear the emergency alert phones. new shake map looking for -- >> this is the strongest earthquake that we've felt in this region. the state of new jersey since the 1800s on record . 1884. >> i felt two as a kid. not like this. >> this is where it tells you where you had weak and moderate shaking. i imagine when they look at this map especially when it comes to looking at structures and looking at structural damage they will target where the moderate to strong shaking was felt where we could see the biggest damage if there is any to these structures. >> matthew, our weather producer behind the scenes. in bridge water, if we were to zoom into that is -- is there a yellow that's right behind that bull's-eye >> this fox news alert. we were covering this incredibly rare earthquake in new jersey as our fox weather team was reporting. the first earthquake in new jersey, the strongest since 1884 in the state of new jersey. so we've got to go back to the 19th century to find an earthquake in that state as strong as the one that has been felt across the northeast. 4.8 magnitude rattling new york city and rattling my co-hosts on the bottom line on fox business sean duffy. his house is roughly seven miles from the epicenter of this quake. sean, just walk us through what you experienced in your home. >> my kids are home on spring break now and sitting in the living room having our cup of conversation and the little ones weren't having coffee but i felt like i heard a boom. we all can't figure out whether it was a sound with it or not but the house started shaking. i've never been in an earthquake before. started shaking in a profound way. so we -- i jumped up and started yelling at the kids. i knew something was wrong. i went to the door, opened it up trying to usher the kids out of the house. they didn't move as fast as i would have liked. the little ones in quick order got out of the house. had a son upstairs who was meandering around as 17-year-olds will do and worked his way downstairs and got him out of the house as well. first time for the duffy family in an earthquake. we had some pictures fall off the walls. it felt like it went on for 15 or 20 seconds. i had some friends at the house who were outside looking at our house as well and said the whole house was shaking, trees were shaking. so listen, it was nerve racking. we didn't know what was going on. i thought it was an earthquake. i thought did someone hit my house? went to twitter and everyone was talking about the earthquake in new jersey. rattled the family. right after when we came back in our family sat down and we all prayed together. again, this is a frightening event and you go back to the basics and for us it was our faith after that event that everyone was okay. praying for others and praying everyone was safe through the ordeal in new jersey. >> dagen: if you've never been through one at first you don't know what's going on, right? >> i didn't know if a line broke and this was a gas leak, something that exploded near our house. we did an after action report with the kids about who did well and who didn't. how we can do better the next time to make sure we get outside as quickly as possible especially when mom and dad are yelling at everybody and you see your house shaking, get outside and pay attention real quickly. we didn't know. it wasn't until i went to ask and there was an earthquake in new jersey. we texted our neighbors and probably 30 minutes later we got an alert from our county that says yeah, it was an earthquake but 30 minutes later we all knew what it was. >> dagen: stay right there. i'm joined by bill hemmer who will take us through the coverage of this rare 4.8 magnitude. >> bill: good to be with you. we don't know. the reason we don't know is because it is out of our control, frankly. the mayor of lebanon, new jersey, which was the epicenter, it may have moved a little bit. the mayor is on the phone with us. sir, good morning to you. i have your last name as pittinger. what did you feel there, sir? >> i was working from home in my home office and felt a shake like i've never felt before living in lebanon. i was having work done outside and this was -- got my heart down to a normal rate i ran outside i thought they hit something or backed their truck into the house or something. it was a craziest thing i've ever experienced. >> bill: mayor, how long did it last? >> just a couple seconds. didn't seem to last too long. it seemed like it started and it was over. >> bill: what have you heard from the folks in your town? >> i'm sitting in the hall assessing it. it doesn't seem, knock on wood, that we have any significant damage at this stage. >> bill: have you heard from anybody there? is there any reporting of damage? >> no reporting so far in lebanon. i can say in my own garage going down there, things were knocked off the walls and everything was all over the floor. it was again something i had never experienced before. >> bill: that's a little more than what we've heard in the city. i don't know how long you have been in that part of new jersey. were around in 2011? >> sure, i lived here for 30 years. >> bill: did you feel it then? >> not that i can recall. like i said i've never felt anything like this anywhere i've lived. >> bill: you say things were knocked off shelves in your garage. what else? >> oh yeah. i had work going on outside. they were all rattled as well. they thought they had done something. we all kind of did a collective sigh of relief that it wasn't anything -- the house didn't blow up or something. >> bill: give us an idea of the street in your neighborhood there. have you talked to any of your neighbors and if so, what have they told you? >> i probably had a call from everybody that lives on my street or text just checking in and yeah, again, i think everybody is rattled. if they are not in town and hearing that lebanon was the epicenter, just calls and texts concerns if there is anything going on. >> bill: sir, thank you so much for your time. can you say your last name? >> it is james pittinger. >> bill: stand by, we may come back to you. we want to get a sense of what people are feeling and how they are experiencing this together, sir. it is good to know that everybody is okay and there doesn't seem to be significant damage of any type that you've seen or heard about. >> not so far. >> bill: have a terrific friday and let's keep it calm. okay. >> well tow try. >> dagen: these alerts don't help with the calm. they came so far after the earthquake happened. it was a little bit jarring for everyone as the alerts were going on. they encourage people not to call 911. >> bill: our building is 44 stories tall. we're right now on the second floor. when dana and i were on the air an our ago it was an hour ago now we felt nothing on the 12th floor. stuart varney felt and saw quite a bit and cb cotton, let's get back to you to gather more about what we're hearing. >> i was on 21 when it happened and i didn't feel much of anything. when i came down here to floor two, that's when everybody in the newsroom quickly started sharing what they experienced. they said it was again 20 to 30 seconds persistent shaking that really scared everyone. no one was sure at the time what exactly was going on. bill, we are expecting new york city mayor adams to do a press briefing in 40 minutes right at the top of the hour at noon to get more information from him. it seems like right now, bill, what we're starting to learn with the initial impact from this earthquake are the transit issues that are coming from this. according to the faa's website there are ground stops at newark, jfk, which are obviously two major transit hubs in the northeast. it looks like there is some type of closure at boston's airport. i don't know if it is related to the earthquake. because of the earthquake at newark and jfk there are ground stops there. new jersey saying there are transit delays of up to 20 minutes in both directions due to bridge inspections following this earthquake. so there are going to be some headaches for commuters this morning as a result of this. right now the one bright spot here in new york city at least is that coming out of the mayor's office they're saying right now and their initial assessment there are no signs of any type of major damage . obviously they still have to assess all five boroughs were tremors were felt from people. somebody telling me in brooklyn it was so strong they were worried the scaffolding on their building would fall off and possibly hurt somebody. so a scary morning for so many people in the northeast, bill and dagen. >> bill: thank you, we'll cut you loose for the moment. come back when you get more. thank you, cb. >> dagen: we have heard that president biden has briefed on the 4.8 magnitude earthquake. the strongest in new jersey since the 1800s, 1884. >> bill: it's interesting. we had dr. marc siegel to talk about a completely different topic. we haven't had a chance to get to him yet. reading the text messages he sent about what people might be feeling throughout the area and maybe this applies to some folks who are watching. maybe it doesn't. he talks about the after shocks and possibility some could feel nausea or some measure of trauma. potential problems of vomiting and balance. and i think that's kind of interesting to see whether or not some folks may be having that sort of experience as we go through this here in the northeast. marc siegel on the line and get him to tell us what he has learned in case is like these. >> dagen: we have new video of the u.n. building as the earthquake was happening. if you can look, this is at the general assembly and watch it to see if you can visibly see. there is the shaking. i'm watching people's faces to see if they even acknowledge what is happening as this earthquake -- you can see in the background people -- look, they're looking around. when you are not used to going through an earthquake, if you have never experienced one or it is so rare particularly here on the east coast, you really do not know what is happening. >> bill: excellent point. >> dagen: people in california you get small tramors quite often. the last big earthquake was 2011 in virginia. that was a 5.8 magnitude. it was quite a bit stronger than the one here in new york city. i was on the 15th floor of a building in new york city at the time and felt it. a shaking. i remember the moment that was an earthquake. i wonder where it was? outside of richmond, virginia. people begin looking around. >> bill: i think your point is well taken. 8:23 in the morning in california and they go through this a lot and we do not. it is a unique experience for us. just like you can imagine how unique it is for those folks whether new yorkers or tourists in time square. for that part of the story alexis mcadams joins us now an avenue away. >> i didn't feel it at work. people here felt the shaking with somebody visiting from denmark. you won't forget the trip to new york city. >> the door was shaking and i fell a little bit in the chair. >> did the person cutting your hair ask if you were okay. >> they didn't know. i didn't think much about it until i got a notification on my phone. >> what are you thinking now knowing this happened here in new york city, this earthquake here? >> i never experienced an earthquake before but yeah, it was crazy. >> was anything falling in the room? just mostly -- >> that was the only thing i noticed. >> thanks for talking to us. glad you are okay. quite a visit to new york. take you this way and show you what the activity is in times square. 4.8 magnitude earthquake confirmed near white house station, new jersey. in lebanon, new jersey resident said they -- a lot of people are out here walk withing around new york city. they thought it was the rattleling of a subway station or it depends who you talk to here. people are looking at me like i'm crazy, what do you mean there was an earthquake, or they felt the tremors in new york city. >> bill: a very natural reaction. thank you for that. >> what are you talking about? >> bill: i can relate. just about a block away. the yankees have their home opener today scheduled for 1:ten, an hour and a half from now, less than two hours. the "new york post" is reporting that yankee stadium felt the quake. the field was shaking and just reading through a little bit of the reporting right there they were taking batting practice with the blue jays at 11:10:00 a.m. they were still on the field taking batting practice. all indications are they will play a game as previously scheduled. >> that is the important