Northern California coast endures 7.0 earthquake, dodges tsunami
Californias northern coast endures 7.0 magnitude earthquake, dodges tsunami
Californias North Coast dodged one of nature’s biggest bullets on Thursday. Hours after the magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck, the Rio Dell Volunteer Fire Department was responding to calls. KTVUs Tom Vacar has a look at the damage and reactions.
Ferndale, California - There is no other way to say it, California's North Coast dodged one of nature’s biggest bullets. Hours after the magnitude 7.0 earthquake, the Rio Dell Volunteer Fire Department was responding to calls.
In this case, after Pacific Gas & Electric returned power to this neighborhood, one house heard popping and crackling followed by a burning smell. "I'm unsure what the issue is here. You know, just as a precaution, we're shutting the power off, having PG&E come out," said Rio Dell Volunteer Fire Department Assistant Chief Ryan Heussler.
Assistant Chief Heussler has lived here for more than 40 years. He's seen a lot of quakes. "This was probably one of the bigger ones I've ever felt. I thought for sure, that we were gonna be looking at a lot of damage and I’m pleased to report that the damage was very minimal," said Heussler.
The General Dollar store in Rio Dell is closed until further notice. It's pretty messed up and there's a lot of staff all over the floors, but in a few hours, or at least a day or two, it might be able to be reopened. A few years ago, during another major earthquake, it was closed for a month.
The sporting goods store lost only one plate window. But these fresh, large, long cracks strongly suggest this old structure may have been seriously compromised.
But, overall, what relatively little damage that did occur in the North Coast is more reminiscent of what would happen in a 4 to 5 magnitude quake, not the massive wholesale destruction magnitude 7 quakes almost always bring.
The quake struck just as Brian Simon was pulling out of his driveway. "My house started to shake and my car started to bounce up and down and the hanging plants on the porch were swinging violently back and forth. I parked my car and I went back in the house and kind of assessed the damage and started cleaning things up and comforted my dog," said Simon. His hundred-year-old house survived intact.
At Ferndale Liquors, previous earthquakes caused the owner to install protective barrier shelves to keep displayed bottles from flying around the room as in the past and back up stocks secured. "Our total damage was about 5 or 6 bottles of beer and maybe 10 cans of soda." said store manager Blaiz Lowe.
But a recently acquired store, just a few miles away, the lack of such preventive shelving produced huge losses of wines and liquors. "We're estimating in the tens of thousands at this point and we started the day with an empty dumpster, and it was half full by the time I left," said Mr. Lowe.
Assistant Chief Heussler put it all in perspective. "We had a good day today. I'll take a 7.0 earthquake like that any day of the week, if the damage stays where it stayed today," he said.
In the aftermath of the earthquakes, Governor Gavin Newsom issued an emergency proclamation to support the northern counties in the state. The quake left a water main broken in Ferndale, among other damage.
Newsom is activating the state's emergency operations center and says the proclamation will allow more resources to go where they are needed. The proclamation will allow the state's National Guard resources to be activated as needed. Newsom said state officials are on the ground in Northern California, working with local emergency teams to assess the damage.
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