Man Was in the Middle of His Vasectomy When Earthquake Struck: ‘A Story to Tell for Years to Come’

"The surgeon kind of stopped for a second and said, 'That’s gotta be an earthquake, right?' " Justin Allen tells PEOPLE

• Justin Allen tells PEOPLE that everything "started totally normal" during his vasectomy appointment until the walls started shaking

• “I definitely assumed it was a train passing or something not out of the ordinary for that office," he says

• His post on X about having the procedure during the 4.8-magnitude quake has so far generated 5.3 million views

One Pennsylvania man might have had the most memorable earthquake experience on the morning of April 5.

Justin Allen said in a post on X (formerly known as Twitter), “A F------ EARTHQUAKE HAPPENED IN THE MIDDLE OF MY VASECTOMY.” As of Friday afternoon, his post had 53K likes and 6.2M views.

Allen tells PEOPLE that he was at a urology office in Huntingdon Valley to have the procedure when the rare 4.8-magnitude quake struck just before 10:30 a.m. local time.

He recalls that everything "started totally normal" at the beginning of his 10 a.m. appointment and that his doctor walked him through each step of the procedure.

Related: 4.1-Magnitude Earthquake Hits Los Angeles Area on New Year's Morning

According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, a vasectomy is a surgery in which a man’s "tubes," known as the vas defrens, are cut and sealed as a form of permanent male birth control.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

"About midway through the surgery, the walls started shaking," Allen says. “I definitely assumed it was a train passing or something not out of the ordinary for that office but the surgeon kind of stopped for a second and said, 'That’s gotta be an earthquake, right?' "

Allen says that he still assumed what happened was a joke since earthquakes "don’t happen around here." However, “based on the time it lasted and overall feeling, we all agreed it had to be one. We laughed because it was a situation none of us would ever forget.”

"We all have a story to tell for years to come," he adds.

Related: 4.0 Magnitude Earthquake Reported Off Florida's Space Coast Ahead of Rocket Launch: ‘Pretty Rare’

He also tells PEOPLE that his doctor momentarily put down his surgical tools until the shaking stopped. “I was fully awake, just numbed,” Allen says.

After he came out of the surgery, Allen says he fired off his post on X, “thinking a few of my friends would find it funny and definitely never anticipated it being as big as it was.”

While getting his discharge papers, Allen says his doctor came over to him and said, "Would you believe that was a 4.8?" That prompted him to laugh.

“It was like holy s---, that’s a real earthquake here on the East Coast. There had only been one other one around here in my lifetime in 2011 and I never felt it," says Allen.

Related: At Least 9 Dead and More Than 900 Injured After 7.4 Magnitude Earthquake in Taiwan Topples Buildings

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the tremor was centered near Lebanon, New Jersey.  Per The Weather Channel, the quake could be felt in New York City, Boston and Philadelphia and other surrounding areas.

The Associated Press reported that over 42 million people felt the quake. Especially for New Jersey, the tremor was the strongest to hit the Garden State in about 250 years, per NBC News.

At a news conference, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said that despite concerns about aftershocks, "New Yorkers should go about their normal day,” reported CBS News.

Several people recorded the incident and their reactions to it and shared their videos on social media. User @jareddemel posted a clip of themselves playing a guitar when loud creaking and rattling sounds emerged.

“The f--- was that?” the concerned user wondered before taking a pause from the guitar. 

For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on People.