2 people are dead, 12 injured after 6.4 magnitude strikes California earthquake
Tuesday evening, nearly a day after a strong California earthquake shocked many awake, rattled homes off foundations, injured at least 12, and left many without water, tens of thousands of homes and businesses along the Northern California earthquake coast remained without electricity.
Cassondra Stoner remarked, “It seemed like my roof was falling in.” I was only able to think, “Get the friggin kids,” at the time.
Stoner’s family was unharmed when the ground stopped shifting; one daughter even slept through the commotion. But when she arrived for work at Dollar General, she saw that shelves had collapsed, tiles had fallen from the roof, and the merchandise in the bargain store she oversees was all over the floor.
A little town located close to the Pacific coast and around 210 miles (345 kilometres) northwest of San Francisco had a magnitude 6.4 California earthquake at 2:34 in the morning. Just offshore, at a depth of around 10 miles, was the epicentre (16 kilometers). There were many of aftershocks.
By late Tuesday, Pacific Gas & Electric had restored power to nearly 40,000 customers, more than half of the initial 72,000 impacted. The utility stated that it anticipated a complete restoration of power within 24 hours.
Earthquakes are a common occurrence for locals in the region famed for its redwood forests, picturesque mountains, and the fabled marijuana harvest grown in the Emerald Triangle’s three counties. However, several people claimed that this was more violent and frightening than the regular rolling motion they feel.
Araceli Huerta, who was still shaken ten hours later, remarked that she could see the floor and walls moving. “My house sounded like it was being run through by a freight train.”
Infrastructure and building damage were still being evaluated. According to Brian Ferguson, a representative for the California earthquakeGovernor’s Office of Emergency Services, two hospitals in Humboldt County lost electricity and were operating on generators, although the extent of the damage looked to be minor in comparison to the magnitude of the earthquake.
On Tuesday night, Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in Humboldt County.
At a news conference that was abruptly cut short by a powerful aftershock, the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office said that about 12 individuals had been hurt, including one with a broken hip and another with a head trauma. An 83-year-old and a 72-year-old perished because they were unable to receive prompt medical attention for “medical problems” during or shortly after the earthquake.
During a press conference in Sacramento, Emergency Services Director Mark Ghilarducci stated that damage was primarily concentrated in the tiny towns of Rio Dell, Ferndale, and Fortuna.
After a partial inspection, officials said that at least 15 homes in Rio Dell, a hamlet of roughly 3,000 people where the damage was heaviest, were badly damaged and ruled uninhabitable, while 18 others were moderately damaged. They stated that they believed there to be 30 displaced individuals.
Leaks caused the city’s water system to need repairs for as long as two days. At City Hall, portable restrooms were set up, and at the fire station, water was being distributed.
The major crossing over the Eel River, completed in 1911, was destroyed and rendered impassable, necessitating a longer detour over the mountains to get to the beautiful Victorian village, whose Main Street is entirely listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Only a few storefront windows were broken by the earthquake, according to Caroline Titus, the former owner of the Ferndale Enterprise newspaper. Plants were pushed over, her coffee bar smashed to the floor, portraits came from the wall, and books were scattered around her 140-year-old house.
Titus remarked, “It’s all simply the kind of injury that hurts like hell.”
Building standards have forced retrofits to make structures far more resistant to the shaking since a magnitude 7.2 earthquake in the region in 1992 wounded hundreds, started fires, and damaged many homes, Titus said.
Still, she claimed, every powerful tremor brings up the same anxiety: “Is this the one. This is the nine-pointer, right?
The volunteer Rio Dell Fire Department originally took longer to react to 60 complaints, including two fires, in a repeat of the 1992 earthquake because the garage doors were off the hinges and needed to be pryed open, according to Chief Shane Wilson. Homes in the surrounding Petrolia burnt three decades ago as a result of the firehouse garage door jamming and trapping the engines inside.
According to state senator Mike McGuire, who represents the area, the primary transmission line that enters the area was affected by the power loss, and Pacific Gas & Electric’s restoration efforts were hindered because rain precluded use of a helicopter to examine damage.
According to the California Earthquake Authority, Humboldt County is home to around 136,000 people and is located in a region of the state with a long history of strong earthquakes, including ones of magnitude 7.0 in 1980 and 6.8 in 2014.
Dennis Leonardi left the San Francisco Bay Area in the middle of the night to return to his dairy farm in Ferndale, but he had to take a long detour since the bridge was closed.
After the California earthquake rattled practically every drawer in his home open, toppled a dresser, and tugged furniture and appliances out of their earthquake-safe locations against the wall, Leonardi spent two hours cleaning up glass. A refrigerator and freezer “shimmied its way across” the garage, while a glass cabinet filled with relics, decorations, and family pictures “walked itself” away from a wall.
He remarked that his herd looked to be in good shape but that they were probably startled by the noise of everything “bouncing around” because “the cows were just dancing to some rock and roll today.”
Larkin O’Leary, 41, of Santa Rosa made the trip to Ferndale to celebrate her anniversary with her husband after being shaken by an earthquake there the previous year.
They made the decision to give it another shot and reserved the romance package at the same old historic inn.
O’Leary claimed that about 2:30 in the morning, she tried to fall back asleep after feeling uneasy.
She remarked, “I laid down again and it felt almost like someone leaped on the bed. “It was very horrifying. It trembled in a manner I had never before felt. All around, it was up and down.
The couple left Ferndale shortly and went back to their house.
O’Leary remarked, “Never again.
The Mendocino Triple Junction, where three tectonic plates converge, is where the earthquake struck.
According to Lori Dengler, retired professor of geology at Cal Poly Humboldt, “we’re at this period of geologic time when the most interesting, active part of California happens to be Humboldt County and the neighbouring offshore area.”
The earthquake prompted a large reaction from the West Coast’s warning system, which may advise people to take safety steps in the seconds before significant shaking reaches them by detecting the beginning of an earthquake and sending warnings to smartphones in the impacted zone.
About 3 million individuals in Northern California received notifications from the system early on Tuesday, according to officials.
Only a few days prior, a minor 3.6-magnitude earthquake that shook the San Francisco Bay Area and caused hundreds of people to wake up before 4 a.m. preceded this one.