Earthquake Anniversary Approaching. Could It Happen in Texas?
The 200th anniversary of one of the worst earthquakes ever to hit North America is coming up this year.
In the winter of 1811 to 1812, a powerful earthquake and weeks of major aftershocks hit a widespread area along the Mississippi River from Arkansas to Illinois.
It was the New Madrid Earthquake, so named because its epicenter was near the town of New Madrid, Missouri. Seismologists estimate the quake was a 7 or 8 on the Richter Scale, about as strong as the earthquake that destroyed San Francisco in 1906.
It was so strong it was felt on the east and Gulf coasts of the United States. It changed the course of the Mississippi River, and made the river appear to flow backward for a time. There was widespread property damage up and down the river, but the total death toll has never been determined.
Could an earthquake like that happen in Texas? Probably not.
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