UPDATED: Magnitude 5.8 Earthquake Strikes Northern Virginia

A magnitude 5.8 earthquake struck the east coast of the United States at about 1:53 p.m. today, according to various state and local government reports.

The quake was centered in Mineral, Va., a small town of just more than 400 people about 30 miles due east of Charlottesville.

Authorities are asking people to call 911 only in the case of emergencies.

Numerous reports of phone outages or signals clogged circulated in the hours following the quake.

Arlington County had received no reports of serious damage or injuries as of 4:30 p.m.

The county activated its Emergency Operations Center, according to an email from spokeswoman Mary Curtis. The county received a slew of calls immediately following the quake, though most of those were "anxiety calls" from people worried about what they had experienced, Curtis stated.

The county is checking its infrastructure, she stated.

Vornado Realty Trust shut down their Arlington buildings, including 2100 Clarendon Blvd., which houses county offices, Curtis stated.

Metro reports that as of 1:59 p.m., all trains are operating at 15 mph. Metro personnel are conducting track inspections of the entire rail system, and no customers have been reported injured, according to a news release.

Most non-emergency federal employees in the Washington metro area were allowed to leave work by 4 p.m.

Damage reports have been coming in from across northern Virginia -- including , , and .

For updates about the earthquake from Patches across Northern Virginia, read and "like" our Northern Virginia Earthquake Facebook Page.

Centreville Patch has .