Minor Earthquake Rattles North Texas
Tuesday, Jul 7, 2009 | Updated 10:20 PM CST
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The earthquake, which shook the ground before noon, was centered about four miles south of Euless.
A minor earthquake shook parts of North Texas on Saturday, but no damage nor injuries were reported.
The U.S. Geological Survey reported the quake at 11:24 a.m. came in at 3.3 in magnitude. The epicenter was in North Arlington, four miles south of Euless in a neighborhood south of Highway 10 and east of North Collins Street, 18 miles west of Dallas.
The earthquake rattled Irving, the Mid-Cities and other parts of North Texas. People as far away as Louisiana said they felt the quake.
Robert Budack, who lives in Irving, told The Associated Press he was on his bed and got bounced to the wall, but was not hurt.
Budack said he felt an aftershock that "was enough to make the couch and chairs shake."
"I heard what appeared to be a boom or a loud noise, and just as soon as I heard the noise, then the house shook," said Jerry McVey, of Euless. "It was pretty frightening. I've never felt something like that before. I've been around sonic booms, but I've never felt shuddered by sonic booms."
Rebecca Nyangoma, also of Euless, said the earthquake scared her.
"I was like, 'What happened?'" she said. "And my mom was like, 'Maybe it's an earthquake,' but I was like, 'No, it can't be.'"
Geologists said quakes are unusual in North Texas, but not unheard of.
"Oddly enough, there were a couple of earthquakes just a couple of months ago in that same vicinity that were just a tad bit deeper," said John Hobrook, a geology professor at the University of Texas at Arlington. "But they were essentially the first ones anyone had heard of in this area."
Several quakes shook the Mid-Cities in October, rattling homes in Euless, Grand Prairie and Irving.
Hobrook said earthquakes such as Saturday's come in clusters, so aftershocks may be possible.
But quakes such as the one Saturday often go undetected. There were about 1,500 earthquakes in the range of 3.3 in the United States last year.
It's been some time since Texas had a "big one" -- the largest, which measured 5.8, hit Valentine in West Texas in 1931.
Copyright Associated Press / NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth
Posted Thursday, Jul 16, 2009 - 8:35 PM CST
