Residents In Venus Still Rattled After 4.0 Earthquake
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VENUS (CBSDFW.COM) - Nerves are still rattled after a magnitude 4.0 earthquake shook Venus, a city just south of Arlington. On Friday, residents there said they didn't have to ask why their small area was getting so much attention.
The earthquake was apparently strong enough to be felt for miles. One person in Conroe, almost 200 miles from Thursday night's Johnson County quake epicenter, reported feeling the shaking. In Venus almost everyone out Friday had a story about where they were and what they were doing when the latest trembler hit.
Tiffany Moran said, "My whole house just started shaking. The pictures on the wall were shaking. And I thought somebody hit the building it was so loud. I thought somebody had crashed into the building."
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the earthquake happened just before 6 p.m. on Thursday.
Here in Texas the 4.0 magnitude event is considered more than a mere tremor. Resident Bill Searcy said he knew what was happening, but also know this quake was pretty serious. "It like to knocked us out of the chairs and knocked a few things off of a wall."
While everyone in Venus is talking about the earthquake, they're also asking questions, and offering up some ideas about what happened yesterday and what could happen in the future.
Searcy theorized, "They're fracking too much, is what it is. Putting dynamite… messing with Mother Nature, they shouldn't be messing with it." Resident Brandy Reid agreed with the fracking cause and thinks things will only get worse. "I think at this point it's probably really too late. They've already fracked so much that I think they're [earthquakes] gonna just keep coming," she said.
A Southern Methodist University seismology team has been studying Johnson County earthquakes dating back to 2009. The scientists have recorded several smaller quakes near Venus in recent months and on Friday issued a subtle warning.
In a statement SMU Seismology professor Brian Stump said, "This illustrates that we all need to think about the possibility of larger earthquakes in the region where we live."
There was no serious damage or injuries reported in Venus.
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