{"id":387274,"date":"2026-07-26T22:26:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T22:26:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/387274\/"},"modified":"2026-07-26T22:26:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T22:26:08","slug":"texas-panhandle-shaken-by-strongest-earthquake-to-hit-the-region","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/387274\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Panhandle shaken by strongest earthquake to hit the region"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao MvWXB TjIXL aGjvy ebVHC \">LUBBOCK, Texas &#8212; A 5.0 magnitude earthquake rocked the Texas Panhandle early Thursday morning, one of the strongest recorded in Texas.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Effects from the earthquake were felt throughout the rural region and as far as southern Oklahoma and New Mexico.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the earthquake occurred at 5:21 a.m. nearly 24 miles south-southeast of Spearman near the top of the Texas-Oklahoma border. On social media, Spearman residents said the<a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/hansfordreporter\/posts\/pfbid02nThcP4jW4HUH2gME9VH6mc8hCe2vGfdKPc6mXjZKkjkza3GAdV4YtEQtSLmTqFjwl\" dir=\"ltr\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">\u00a0earthquake shook homes<\/a>. Some in Oklahoma City, nearly 250 miles away, reported feeling the effects of the earthquake.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">No structural damage or injuries have been reported so far. The USGS expects economic losses to be minimal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">A.J. Harrel, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Amarillo, said the earthquake originated from northwest Roberts County, nearly 50 miles south of Spearman. Harrel said Thursday\u2019s earthquake was stronger than what they typically see in the region.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">\u201cWe\u2019ve had smaller earthquakes within the past year or two,\u201d Harrel said. \u201cThey do happen here, just not frequently.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">In the last five years, Texas has experienced<a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/earthquaketrack.com\/p\/united-states\/texas\/biggest\" dir=\"ltr\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">\u00a0seven earthquakes that measured at a 5.0 magnitude or higher.<\/a>\u00a0According to Earthquake Track, the earthquake in Spearman is tied for the sixth-biggest in Texas history.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Last year, two of the largest earthquakes in state history<a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2025\/02\/15\/texas-west-earthquake-magnitude\/\" dir=\"ltr\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">\u00a0struck in West Texas<\/a>. Earthquakes in that region have been attributed to an increase in hydraulic fracking in the area. It is unclear what caused the earthquake in the Panhandle.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC eTIW sUzSN \">\u201cThere are some minor fault lines in the Texas Panhandle that could cause weak to moderate earthquakes,\u201d Harrel said. \u201cThey\u2019re just not very frequent.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LUBBOCK, Texas &#8212; A 5.0 magnitude earthquake rocked the Texas Panhandle early Thursday morning, one of the strongest&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":387275,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[136499,27,29,28],"class_list":["post-387274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-136499","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=387274"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387274\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/387275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=387274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=387274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=387274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}