UPDATE: 61 earthquakes strike Scurry County over past week, State of Disaster declared

SCURRY COUNTY, Texas ( KTAB/KRBC ) – 61 earthquakes have been recorded in Scurry County over the past week, prompting a State of Disaster to be declared.

Scurry County Judge Dan Hicks issued the disaster declaration Friday morning following the latest and strongest earthquake , which struck around 9:28 a.m. and was recently upgraded to a magnitude 5.1.

Judge Hicks says that there have been 61 earthquakes in Scurry County in the past 7 days, causing damage to businesses and residences throughout the County.

Emergency Management Services is now monitoring the situation and has created a survey for property owners who may have experienced damage in Scurry County or the surrounding.

Anyone with damage is asked to fill out this form in either English or Spanish .

The Railroad Commission of Texas is investigating this series of earthquakes, saying “The RRC has been investigating the earthquakes that have occurred this week in the Camp Springs area along the Fisher/Scurry county line in West Texas. In efforts to reduce seismicity possibly caused by underground injection of produced water, several operators in the area have converted deep saltwater disposal wells to shallow saltwater disposal wells within the last year. (Disposal wells are used to dispose produced water, which is water that comes out from wells during oil and gas production.) RRC inspectors are out inspecting saltwater disposal wells within two and a half miles of the cluster of earthquakes this week and the RRC will evaluate next steps that can be taken to mitigate earthquakes. We’ll continue to take measures necessary to protect the environment and residents in the area.”

No further information is available at this time.

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