Northern California was rattled by a magnitude 7 earthquake off the coast of Humboldt County on Thursday, prompting a tsunami warning for a wide swath of the region.
The earthquake occurred at 10:44 a.m. with an epicenter under the Pacific Ocean, about 70 miles southwest of Eureka and 110 miles northwest of Mendocino. Shaking on land was quite strong in the Eureka area, said Elizabeth Cochran, seismologist with U.S. Geological Survey said.
The earthquake was widely felt across California’s North Coast. State Sen. Mike McGuire of Healdsburg said in a social media post that there was a mandatory evacuation order in Crescent City due to the tsunami threat.
“All residents should head to higher ground immediately,” McGuire wrote.
The tsunami warning extends from Oregon to just north of Santa Cruz.
“Tsunami warnings mean that a tsunami with significant inundation is expected or occurring. Warnings indicate that widespread dangerous coastal flooding accompanied by powerful currents are possible and may continue for several hours after the initial wave arrival,” officials said in a bulletin.
White capped waves crashed onto the ocean beach in San Francisco around 11:35 a.m. About 10 minutes later, San Francisco fire personnel arrived and began ordering people to evacuate. Dozens had gathered along the waterfront to watch the waves roll in.
Olivia Cobian, the innkeeper at the Gingerbread Mansion, a bed and breakfast in the historic town of Ferndale, said her 1895 building “looked like a war zone.”
“I have fireplaces flying forward.” she said. “Clawfoot tubs that have been lifted off [their mounts] and scooched over. This is crazy.”
Cobian said that moments before the quake struck, she had been giving a tour of the inn to a third-grade class from the local elementary school.
“They had just walked” back to school, she said, adding, “Thank God.”
“It’s insane,” she said, walking through the inn surveying the damage. Then, in the background, a siren began to wail. Cobian said she had to go talk to firefighters who had appeared.
The shaking at the Petrolia General Store was intense and lasted for about 10 seconds, according to employee Kaitlin Graves.
“It was a big earthquake. It was a lot of up-and-down shaking,” Graves said in a phone interview. “It felt like the woozy feeling you get when you’re in an elevator.”
The shaking was so intense it knocked off several objects off the shelves, and multiple glass items shattered, Graves said.
Humboldt County Supervisor Rex Bohn, whose district includes the earthquake zone, said there has been no major damage reported so far.
“I just talked to one of our local hospital providers … and they seem to be doing OK,” he said.
“It’s a mess. There’s a lot of stuff off the shelves,” he added, but that seemed to be the extent of the damage at this point.
Bohn said the earthquake hit the Scotia and Rio Dell/Mattole Valley region of Humboldt County, almost exactly the same location that an earthquake hit in 2022.
“It was a sudden jolt and it rolled out,” Bohn said.
The 2022 temblor, a magnitude 6.4, struck near Eureka, killing two and injuring 11 people. The powerful jolt caused widespread power outages and damage.
The force of the shaking shattered windows, sent objects flying and damaged at least one historic bridge in the small communities south of Eureka.
Steve Wells, a spokesman for the Fort Bragg Fire Department, said shaking in the coastal town was minimal and no damage had been reported. He said out of precaution, many residents were moving their boats out of the harbor in case of a sea swell.
In the community of Manila on Humboldt Bay, Jennifer Savage said she and her neighbors felt a long, rolling quake.
“People are pretty freaked out,” said Savage, who works at the Surfrider Foundation.
When the quake hit, a crew of workers from the Pacific Gas and Electric Co. were perched high in the air, working on power lines. They swayed in the sky during the quake, she said.
The tsunami warning also prompted the evacuation of the San Francisco Zoo. “Guests have been evacuated, animals secured and staff have moved to higher ground,” the zoo posted on social media.
According to preliminary shaking data from the U.S. Geological Survey, “very strong” shaking may have been felt in the towns of Petrolia and Ferndale. “Very strong” shaking, as defined by the Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale, can cause chimneys to break and cause considerable damage in poorly built or badly designed structures.
The U.S. Geological Survey said strong shaking may have been felt in Eureka. Generally speaking, “strong” shaking can cause heavy furniture to move and cause plaster to fall.
In the past 10 days, there have been two earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 or greater centered nearby.
An average of five earthquakes with magnitudes between 7.0 and 8.0 occur per year in California and Nevada, according to a recent three-year data sample.
The earthquake occurred at a depth of 6.2 miles. Did you feel this earthquake? Consider reporting what you felt to the USGS.
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