Powerful Earthquake Shakes Midwest

A magnitude 5.3 earthquake shook the midwest Sunday night, causing damage in central Oklahoma.

The earthquake struck at 7:44 p.m. CST, with an epicenter located one mile west of Cushing, about 50 miles northeast of Oklahoma City.

The quake was felt as far away as Kansas City, Missouri, and Little Rock, Arkansas.

Emergency officials in Cushing, Oklahoma, evacuated an assisted living center catering to the elderly.

Assistant City Manager Jeremy Frazier said that while damage was reported at the Cimarron Tower after Sunday night’s quake, no injuries were reported among the home’s residents.

It wasn’t immediately known how many people lived at the building in downtown Cushing. Tulsa television station KOTV said some of those taken from the home were moved to the Cushing Youth Center.

Frazier said the temblor caused the most damage in and around Cushing’s century-old downtown. A number of brick facades had collapsed, and window panes in several buildings shattered. Frazier said city leaders could do a better assessment after sun-up.

Concerns were raised, too, about possible damage in a crude oil tank farm near the city that holds 58.5 million barrels, but there were no immediate reports of trouble.

The Cushing Public School District has canceled classes Monday in order to assess the damage from the magnitude 5.0 earthquake that rocked the central Oklahoma prairie town Sunday evening.

The earthquake, which struck at 7:44 p.m. caused what the Cushing Police Department described as “quite a bit of damage.” Photos posted to social media show piles of debris at the base of commercial buildings in the city of about 7,900.

According to USGS data, there have been 19 earthquakes in Oklahoma in the past week.