Quake felt in Webster and Nuckolls counties

A 4.2 magnitude earthquake rattled south-central Nebraska on Sunday, with tremors felt in communities like Red Cloud, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The USGS recorded the earthquake approximately 6 miles north-northeast of Guide Rock in Webster County at about 1:30 p.m. It had a depth of a little more than 4 miles with tremors stretching to just south of Hastings, according to a USGS map.

The earthquake had a Level IV intensity according to USGS measurements, which is considered “light,” defined as being “felt indoors by many” with “dishes, windows, doors” rattling. 

As of 6 p.m. Sunday, 21 people reported feeling the quake, according to the USGS.

This is third earthquake to strike south-central Nebraska in two years and the strongest of the three.

On July 26, 2022, the USGS recorded a magnitude 3.6 earthquake in Jewell County, Kansas, approximately 5 miles west-southwest of Superior, at an underground depth of about 3 miles.

Less than 10 days earlier, a 3.7 earthquake was reported in the same area and with the same depth on July 17.

A number of people in the Lawrence area reported hearing and feeling the quake. A group of people at the St. Stephen parish church south of Lawrence hear a loud ‘boom’ followed by several seconds of the buildings trembling. Similar reports were reported around the Lawrence community.

Kim Harig was working at the Webster County Community Hospital in Red Cloud when the quake hit.

She told a reporter for USA Today, “Our feet were just giggling and bouncing around”and I asked my colleagues if they felt it. They all did.

Harig said she’d never felt an earthquake before, even after living in California for a time. “It was fascinating.”

There were reports of it being felt as far away as Bellevue. It was the first of two earthquakes felt in Nebraska on Sunday. A few hours later a 3.0 magnitude hit Wakonda, South Dakota, a community near the Nebraska border.

This is the third earthquake in this general area in two years and the strongest of the three.

On July 26, 2022, the USGS recorded a magnitude 3.6 earthquake in Jewell County, about 5 miles west-southwest of Superior in the general area of rock quarry. It had a depth of about 3 miles.

Nine days earlier, on July 17, 2022, a 3.7 earthquke was reported in the same area and at the same depth.