Tens of thousands without power after 6.4 magnitude earthquake strikes Northern California

Paco Dennis

Paco Dennis

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A 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck Northern California’s Eureka area early Tuesday, the US Geological Survey said, drawing reports of widespread damage to homes and roads, shaking people from their sleep and leaving thousands without electricity.

The epicenter of the quake, which struck at 2:34 a.m. PT, was in the Pacific about 9 miles from the city of Ferndale and 15 miles from Fortuna, a community of about 12,000 people near Eureka, the survey said. That’s about a 280-mile drive northwest of Sacramento.

LIVE UPDATES: Earthquake shakes Northern California

Most homes and businesses in Humboldt County were without power early Tuesday. More than 71,000 outages were reported shortly after 6:30 a.m. PT – out of 99,000 customers tracked in the county – according to utility tracker PowerOutage.us.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/20/us/humboldt-county-california-earthquake/index.html
 

Yep,my son in law is a PG&E lineman and was sent there this morning.71,000 without power-and it is coldddddd. 2 grandsons are also on standby to go.

I messaged my dd this morning when I heard,to see if she felt it,(they are about 150 miles south) but she said no,what woke them up was their phones going off with an alert. But she got up and looked outside and their swimming pool looked like a tidal wave.

They are supposed to head up here on Monday to visit if our youngest grandson is laid off on Friday (he works for UPS,probably won`t work next week)but if son in law is stuck in Eureka,they can`t come 😭 😭
 

Sounds like worst damage is in Ferndale-a really cute little town south of Eureka.Very cool old homes and a charming downtown.I had to stop going there because I would always spend way too much money shopping there. There is a bridge that takes you in and out of the town-I believe it is the only way in or out.It was heavily damaged so they are trying to repair it as quickly as possible.

https://www.the-sun.com/news/6955608/california-earthquake-pictures-fortuna/
 
Not to diminish the effected people but it must be a slow news day.

Growing up in CA I went through a lot of earthquakes. For the most part damage is limited to a small area although the ride could be very wild. Yeah, there has been some big ones that were very destructive but after living hear in tornado alley I prefer earthquakes to tornadoes.

There are no warning with earthquakes and mostly they’re over before you know it. A lot less stress in my opinion. The worst that happened to me was a couple feet of water was sloshed out of the pool. Then while I was filling it backup another hit sloshing it out again.

6.4 is medium but can be damaging at the epicenter. Unless you were right on top of it you might just wake up & think earthquake then go back to sleep. Getting a few cracks and/or having the power go out is not that big a deal. Being blown away by a tornado is life changing.
 
I grew up in California also...Cupertino. We has had several EQ's. I especially remember when the dishes started falling out of the cabinets. It also felt like riding a wave in a boat. Almost got sea sick. :) Many people are concerned about another "BIG" one is going to occur. 6.4 is medium and will have some aftershocks. The geologists that study EQ's will be very interested in this one. It is a big deal for them to monitor the earths mantle moving. We would like to be able to predict when a big one might hit, but that has yet to be done. Mother nature is a powerful force.
 
Depending where you are,a 6.4 can feel more than "medium" lol.Sounds like this one hit very close to them.

In March 1957,we had a 5.7 quake in the San Francisco Bay Area.We were very close to the epicenter.I was in first grade,and let me tell you,our classromm rocked and rolled! Didn`t feel very medium.And was also in the `89 Loma Prieta quake (6.9) and that wasn`t as strong as my memory of the `57 one was. But we were 60 or so miles away from the epicenter of that one.
 
When we lived, (on a hill), in the B.C. Gulf Islands there was one off Anacortes, WA. Dark out, and it felt like someone had mistakenly driven down our driveway and banged into the carport.

Next morning, another thud......all my carefully stacked firewood logs had collapsed and rolled down the hill.
 
The California North Coast has been way overdue for a very long time for a large quake-this definitely wasn`t it.There have been several good size ones since we moved to that area in 1991,but nothing approaching what they expect to occur.

It`s a little scary,when you drive in that area there are tsunami warning signs all along the highway. They don`t expect one with this quake though,thankfully.
 
1955 said:
Not to diminish the effected people but it must be a slow news day.

Growing up in CA I went through a lot of earthquakes. For the most part damage is limited to a small area although the ride could be very wild. Yeah, there has been some big ones that were very destructive but after living hear in tornado alley I prefer earthquakes to tornadoes.

There are no warning with earthquakes and mostly they’re over before you know it. A lot less stress in my opinion. The worst that happened to me was a couple feet of water was sloshed out of the pool. Then while I was filling it backup another hit sloshing it out again.

6.4 is medium but can be damaging at the epicenter. Unless you were right on top of it you might just wake up & think earthquake then go back to sleep. Getting a few cracks and/or having the power go out is not that big a deal. Being blown away by a tornado is life changing.
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. You obviously haven't had much experience of earthquakes ,:rolleyes: I live in the shaky isles, enough said.
 
1955 said:
Not to diminish the effected people but it must be a slow news day.

Growing up in CA I went through a lot of earthquakes. For the most part damage is limited to a small area although the ride could be very wild. Yeah, there has been some big ones that were very destructive but after living hear in tornado alley I prefer earthquakes to tornadoes.

There are no warning with earthquakes and mostly they’re over before you know it. A lot less stress in my opinion. The worst that happened to me was a couple feet of water was sloshed out of the pool. Then while I was filling it backup another hit sloshing it out again.

6.4 is medium but can be damaging at the epicenter. Unless you were right on top of it you might just wake up & think earthquake then go back to sleep. Getting a few cracks and/or having the power go out is not that big a deal. Being blown away by a tornado is life changing.
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Slow news day?! Seriously?! Several people lost their homes. Two elderly people died because they had medical emergencies and couldn't be reached due to the quake. Thank God only 12 people were injured because the damage was substantial according to news reports I've seen. You are right not to "diminish" this event even though there have been other way more serious natural disasters. Right now, this is a real tragedy to those who lost their loved ones, those who will not have homes to go back to and businesses to provide income, something they couldn't have imagined 24 hours before.
 
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It was a 6.4 magnitude and it's been reported there have been around 80 after shocks, with the strongest measuring 4.6.
What's interesting to me is that it's also been reported there was a 6.2 earthquake at this same location one year ago on the same day.

We didn't notice anything at our house but I remember Simmy our lab dog sat up in bed and started growling along with some low barking early that morning.
 
It sounds like California has angered the gods- fires, storms, earthquakes. May be it's time to sacrifice a virgin. They'll have to smuggle one in from Arizona.
CA, you need a little lift in your lousy day.
 
I'm going to think that many in the area have fireplaces. That, at least, would help, along with a lot of batteries. And maybe the kinds of frying pans and pots that can be used over a fire.
 
Nemo2 said:
You don't WANT to??? You must be in a small minority! ;)
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Once you get used to them they're quite fun. 😉
I was in the 1971 quake in Los Angeles which was indeed quite scary. I happened to be moving that night, was sleeping in a hotel room, and the plaster on the wall behind me fell down on the bed at 6am that morning. Driving to work there was glass breaking and falling out of various buildings and there were aftershocks all through the day, some of them causing my knees to involuntarily bang on the underside of the desk.
 
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Devi said:
I'm going to think that many in the area have fireplaces. That, at least, would help, along with a lot of batteries. And maybe the kinds of frying pans and pots that can be used over a fire.
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Turns out there`s no need for that! Power has been almost totally(if not totally by now) restored! Thanks to my son in law,grandsons and all the workers like them! ❤️
 
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