5.0 Earthquake Shakes This Texas City on Valentine’s Day!

Did El Paso, Texas Feel A LOT of Love on Valentine’s Day? Or was it just a “Love” earthquake on Valentine’s Day?!

Well, talk about an unexpected shake up on Valentine’s Day! Just as couples were settling in for romantic dinners and others were dodging their heart-shaped chocolates, El Paso experienced a 5.0 magnitude earthquake. Our stations engineer, Mike Rivera, sent out an email updating us on this shaky situation, writing:

“The region has experienced a moderate magnitude 5.0 earthquake tonight at roughly 11:23 CT (10:23 MT) 30 miles north of Toyah Texas. Or 160 miles from El Paso, 90 miles west of Odessa. The focus of the quake was in an area that is already known for its activity and this is one of the stronger shocks in some time.”

I was getting ready for bed when both my boyfriend and my son ran into the room asking if any of us felt the earthquake? And well… none of us felt it! Which was strange because as soon as it hit, my Ring app was blowing up with notifications. People in my neighborhood felt the rumble but no one at my house felt it! Bummer!

CANVA/Iris Lopez

People in El Paso were checking to see if their neighbor’s love life was causing the rumbles. Spoiler: it wasn’t!

Though I didn’t feel anything myself, I wasn’t alone—others across the city were quick to take to social media, with hilarious responses flooding in. Some were claiming they thought it was just their romantic dinner making the earth move. Meanwhile, others joked about the “earthquake” being the universe’s way of sending us all a little Valentine’s Day shock. Aweeeee.

One tweet I came across read:

“Is this love, or did I just miss my exit on the way to the moon?”

And another read:

“When you thought the only thing shaking was your love life, but Mother Earth had other plans.”

Another comment I read on El Paso’s FitFam Instagram page made me chuckle. It Read:

“At least something made my bed shake tonight."

Whether you felt the tremors or not, El Pasoans handled it with humor. After all, it wouldn’t be a true Valentine’s Day in the Sun City without a little shake-up!