Magnitude-7.0 earthquake strikes northern California
A magnitude-7.0 earthquake struck northern California, causing significant concern among residents and authorities. The quake's intensity raised alarms, leading to immediate assessments of potential damages and risks in the affected areas. Emergency services were mobilized to respond swiftly to any needs that arose in the aftermath of this powerful seismic event.
TroibNews 
A magnitude-7.0 earthquake struck parts of Northern California early Thursday, prompting a brief tsunami warning that led to evacuations in some coastal regions of Northern California and the San Francisco Bay Area.
The significant quake occurred offshore, approximately 100 km northwest of Ferndale, a city in Humboldt County with a population exceeding 1,000, at 10:44 a.m. local time, as reported by the U.S. Geological Survey. Initially assessed as a magnitude-6.6 event, it was later upgraded to 7.0 by the USGS, with its focus identified at a depth of 0.6 km.
The U.S. National Weather Service issued a tsunami warning affecting at least 5.3 million Californians shortly after the earthquake. The yellow alert indicated predictions of localized but minimal damage.
The tsunami warning, which extended from the Oregon state line down to the San Francisco Bay Area, was lifted by the NWS around midday on Thursday, stating, "No destructive tsunami has been recorded."
Residents across Northern California's coast and into the Central Valley reported experiencing shaking. USGS officials indicated that they received more than 1,500 responses to their "Did You Feel It?" survey regarding the earthquake.
Ferndale resident Caroline Titus shared her experience with KCRA 3 via phone, noting that while the quake was not particularly damaging, it was "one of those ones that got your attention" during her 35 years in the area.
After the quake, Titus rushed to a local daycare center to check on her granddaughter, discovering that the children had taken shelter under a play structure outdoors and were unharmed. She remarked that the town's historic Main Street had "dodged a bullet."
Video footage posted online showed some businesses where items had fallen off shelves, but there was no significant structural damage in Ferndale or neighboring towns.
In response to the situation, California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency on Thursday afternoon for Del Norte, Humboldt, and Mendocino counties to aid in the emergency response.
So far, about a dozen smaller aftershocks have been recorded in Northern California. Humboldt County officials reported that power outages affected 1,000 customers, but there were no injuries reported, and damage assessments were still in progress.
Ian Smith contributed to this report for TROIB News
The significant quake occurred offshore, approximately 100 km northwest of Ferndale, a city in Humboldt County with a population exceeding 1,000, at 10:44 a.m. local time, as reported by the U.S. Geological Survey. Initially assessed as a magnitude-6.6 event, it was later upgraded to 7.0 by the USGS, with its focus identified at a depth of 0.6 km.
The U.S. National Weather Service issued a tsunami warning affecting at least 5.3 million Californians shortly after the earthquake. The yellow alert indicated predictions of localized but minimal damage.
The tsunami warning, which extended from the Oregon state line down to the San Francisco Bay Area, was lifted by the NWS around midday on Thursday, stating, "No destructive tsunami has been recorded."
Residents across Northern California's coast and into the Central Valley reported experiencing shaking. USGS officials indicated that they received more than 1,500 responses to their "Did You Feel It?" survey regarding the earthquake.
Ferndale resident Caroline Titus shared her experience with KCRA 3 via phone, noting that while the quake was not particularly damaging, it was "one of those ones that got your attention" during her 35 years in the area.
After the quake, Titus rushed to a local daycare center to check on her granddaughter, discovering that the children had taken shelter under a play structure outdoors and were unharmed. She remarked that the town's historic Main Street had "dodged a bullet."
Video footage posted online showed some businesses where items had fallen off shelves, but there was no significant structural damage in Ferndale or neighboring towns.
In response to the situation, California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency on Thursday afternoon for Del Norte, Humboldt, and Mendocino counties to aid in the emergency response.
So far, about a dozen smaller aftershocks have been recorded in Northern California. Humboldt County officials reported that power outages affected 1,000 customers, but there were no injuries reported, and damage assessments were still in progress.
Ian Smith contributed to this report for TROIB News
