Magnitude 6.4 earthquake shakes parts of Northern California, 70,000 without power
FERNDALE, Calif. — A magnitude 6.4 earthquake shook parts of Northern California early Tuesday, jolting people awake, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
Thousands are without power.
No injuries were immediately reported following the earthquake, which occurred about 2:34 a.m. near Ferndale, a small community about 213 miles northwest of San Francisco. The city is about 19 miles south of Eureka near the California and Oregon state line.
Following the earthquake, more than 55,000 customers were reported to be without power in the surrounding area, according to poweroutage.us, which tracks outages across the country.
As of just before 4 a.m. Pacific Gas & Electric Co. reported tens of thousands of customers without power in the area. In Humboldt County alone, where Ferndale is located, more then 70,000 people were in the dark.
Caroline Titus, a resident of Ferndale, tweeted video in her darkened home of toppled furniture and smashed dishes.
“Our home is a 140-year-old Victorian. The north/south shaking is very evident in what fell,” she tweeted.
“That was a big one,” she said in another tweet.
Police in Ferndale helped close a bridge that the California Highway Patrol reported had cracks, KRCR-TV reported. Some gas leaks were also reported.
“Due to a large earthquake, widespread damages to roads and homes are reported throughout Humboldt County,” the county’s office of emergency services tweeted. “Be prepared for aftershocks. Check gas and water lines for damages or leaks.”
As of early Tuesday morning, the National Weather Service's tsunami warning system reported there was no tsunami threat associated with the quake.
Tuesday's 6.4 magnitude earthquake could be the most significant to hit California since July 2019, when a 7.1 magnitude quake hit the Ridgecrest area in Southern California, according to the state Department of Conservation. A 6.5 magnitude quake was recorded about 100 miles offshore near Ferndale in 2016.
The Tuesday earthquake came just days after a small magnitude 3.6 earthquake struck the San Francisco Bay Area, waking up thousands of people at 3:39 a.m. Saturday and causing minor damage.
That earthquake was centered in El Cerrito, about a 16-mile drive to downtown San Francisco.
This article originally appeared on Visalia Times-Delta: Magnitude 6.4 earthquake shakes parts of Northern California
