SpaceX's Starship launch kicked up soil and sand that rained down on a nearby beachside town 5 miles away

• SpaceX's Starship launch kicked up soil and sand that rained down on a town 5 miles away.
• Port Isabel residents shared pictures of the "particulates" that rained down in the area.

Port Isabel, Texas, residents got an unexpected surprise from Thursday's SpaceX Starship launch and explosion: ash-like dust rained down on them, coating cars in the beachside city over five miles from the launch site.

According to Port Isabel's city government's Facebook update, officials were aware of reports about the debris and had said the thin layer of dust was related to the SpaceX launch.

"Cameron County Emergency Management Division has confirmed that the dust that fell this morning in Port Isabel was sand and soil from near the Space X launch site that was lofted into the air by the force of lift-off," the city wrote.

On Thursday, SpaceX attempted to launch its mega-rocket Starship into space. The massive rocket cleared the launch page, but about 2 minutes and 49 seconds into the flight, it began to tumble through the air, falling back to Earth.

Seconds later, the rocket exploded into a fireball — the latest in the rocket's history of explosions during testing.

On social media, users shared photos of a film of dust covering cars, outdoor furniture, and more.

One representative from nearby Derry Elementary School in Port Isabel told Insider people's cars were covered in the ash-like particles.

"When the rocket launched, after it exploded, all the vehicles got a whole bunch of ash on them. Inside the school, we didn't get anything. It was just the outside."

The representative added: "We were waiting for the rocket until it launched, then it did, it exploded, and the ash started coming down."

Starship's explosion shortly after launch also caused a disturbance for Port Isabel residents.

"The doors were shaking," the Derry Elementary School representative told Insider. "I thought it was going to break but they didn't."

SpaceX did not immediately respond to Insider's questions about the particles or whether the company was aware its launch would thrust sand and soil into the air.