Heavy Isospin Quakes and Power Outages in Humboldt County, California, reported by the Bay Area Observed by PowerOutage.us
More than two dozen smaller quakes – as powerful as a 4.6 magnitude – struck the area afterward, the survey reported. The public reports collected by the survey show that there was some shaking from the main quake to the south of San Jose.
Most homes and businesses in Humboldt County were without power early Tuesday. There were more than 71,000 power outages reported by 4:30 a.m. PT – out of 99,000 customers tracked in the county – according to utility tracker PowerOutage.us.
“It’s not going to happen here,” says Pickett Monolias, the Los Alamos Caribbean resident in Humboldt, California
After the shaking stopped, we used our phones and torches to look around. Everything was in disarray. Pickett Monolias said. Things that you wouldn’t expect to fall over did. An entire cabinet in the bathroom fell over and broke apart.”
A video that was posted tot he social networking site showed the items that were spilled over the floor of the home. It was a big one. Power is out now. House is a big mess,” Titus wrote.
The California Highway Patrol said that there were cracks in the bridge caused by the earthquake. CNN affiliate KRCR reported that police closed the span.
Tuesday’s temblor comes exactly one year after a 6.2 magnitude quake struck roughly the same area. That quake struck just off Humboldt County’s Cape Mendocino on December 20, 2021, and caused minor damage to buildings in the area.
The initial report of widespread damages to roads and homes was false, but officials later said it was less damaging than they might have expected.
The region is a small part of the California far north coast and has a port, a university, and some of the best forests in the world. Long before the state legalized marijuana, Humboldt was part of the three-county Emerald Triangle where clandestine cannabis production was legendary.
California had a big earthquake: Two injuries and one expected recovery in Humboldt County, California, according to the California Earthquake Authority
Two injuries were reported but both people were expected to recover, county sheriff’s information specialist Samantha Karges said in an email to The Associated Press.
There was some damage to the buildings and infrastructure, but the extent of that damage appeared to be less than the magnitude of the earthquake.
Humboldt County has about 136,000 residents and is in a part of the state that has a long history of large earthquakes, including a magnitude 7.0 in 1980 and a 6.8 in 2014, according to the California Earthquake Authority.
The communications centre in the city of Eureka was receiving a high volume of calls but no significant damage was reported immediately, according to its website.
Eureka resident Dan Dixon, 40, said he and his wife were sleeping when it jolted them awake and shook everything, throwing pictures in their home to the ground. He said that the infant daughter slept through it.
“We’re in this moment of geologic time where the most exciting, dynamic area of California happens to be Humboldt County and the adjacent offshore area,” said Lori Dengler, professor emeritus of geology at Cal Poly Humboldt, who happened to be 200 miles away in Sacramento when the quake struck.
Dengler said it’s usual for there to be uncertainty about the damage after a big earthquake. Wood frame construction is common in much of the area, and this has helped limit damage in the past.
The warning system on the west coast was triggered when the earthquake struck, meaning that people can take precautions before a big earthquake strikes.