After the California earthquake, power was restored to thousands

One day after a 6.4-magnitude earthquake shook Humboldt County, power has been restored to tens of thousands of residents as authorities continue to survey damage in coastal Northern California.

By Wednesday night, crews had “essentially” restored service to all of the 71,000 customers who lost power due to the quake, said Megan McFarland, a spokeswoman for Pacific Gas & Electric.

At least two people died from medical emergencies during or immediately after the earthquake, according to the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office, which said both had preexisting conditions that were “believed to have been exacerbated by the stress of the earthquake.” The New York Times reported that the two victims were 72 and 83.

Officials said at least 17 people sustained injuries, including broken bones and head trauma, mostly from falling furniture or appliances.

The quake hit the coast just after 2:30 a.m. Tuesday, about 7 miles southwest of Ferndale, according to the US Geological Survey. State officials said the ShakeAlert early warning system broadcasts an alert 10 seconds before cell phones vibrate to about 3 million people in Northern California, giving residents the opportunity to drop in, cover and detain or get to a safe place. .

But many were still aghast, especially those who encountered the earthquake fault, who almost uniformly described the event as the fiercest tremor they had seen in decades.

Pictures showed homes with collapsed walls and ceilings, loose cupboards and shelves, and rubble covering the floors.

Lucy Jones, a renowned Caltech seismologist and founder of the Dr. Lucy Jones Center for Science and Society, said the quake was a “big earthquake.”

But it is not the magnitude of the earthquake alone that determines the potential for damage; It’s also how close cities are to wrong, she said. Although the epicenter of Tuesday’s quake was offshore, it tore along a fault on the shore and traveled northeast. Jones said the aftershock distribution was about 12 miles, or 20 kilometers, the likely length of the fault.

“That means you have the equivalent of 20 kilometers of people potentially on top of” the bug, Jones said.

The earthquake destroyed vital infrastructure, including water and gas lines. In Rio Del, one of the hardest-hit communities, about 3,400 residents were without water on Wednesday, according to the Sheriff’s Office. Authorities issued a boiling water warning for the city and parts of nearby Fortuna.

Debra Garnes, the mayor of Rio Del, said the water was cut off because of the significant damage to the system and to preserve existing supplies in case of fires.

Timmy Ramirez, left, looks on at his mother’s boyfriend, Bunny Bailey, as they walk through Bailey’s apartment after Tuesday’s Rio del earthquake. The 6.4-magnitude earthquake shook a rural area of ​​Northern California, waking residents up, cutting power to thousands of people, and damaging some buildings and roads.

(Godofredo A. Vasquez/The Associated Press)

By Wednesday night, Garnes said, there were signs of improvement. Electricity has returned to work and 20% to 25% of water service has been restored.

But the cleaning and rebuilding work is far from over.

“It’s going to be a tough road,” Garnes said.

The mayor said a large number of Rio Del residents do not have earthquake insurance, which will complicate efforts to get help if they decide to rebuild damaged homes.

For now, city officials are focusing on immediate health and safety needs such as checking all buildings to determine which are safe for occupancy, Garnes said.

The mayor praised the efforts of local and state officials, but said communication was particularly difficult on Wednesday as the city was left without reliable internet and phone service.

“It was really tiring, but it makes you proud to be a part of it [a] He can pull it together, hold it together.”

Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency Tuesday for Humboldt County, giving it state disaster resources and asking for federal assistance, and Sheriff William Honsal declared a local emergency.

The sheriff’s office said at least 30 residences and one commercial building have been identified as structurally unsafe. The total cost of the damage has not been determined.

The Fernbridge, a Humboldt County landmark built across the Eel River in 1911 to connect Ferndale to US 101 via State Route 211, was broken in several places and closed for repairs, but will likely reopen Wednesday night, according to the California Department of State. From Transportation District 1, which includes Humboldt County.

The damage was mostly cosmetic, said Miles Cochrane, a spokesman for Caltrans District 1, and repair work will likely continue under and on the sides of the bridge even after traffic resumes.

Arcata Mayor Sarah Schaefer said the city did “good” during the earthquake when compared to Eureka, Ferndale, Fortuna and Rio Del.

“We did not do any damage to the water and gas infrastructure,” she said. “A few broken windows around town. I’ve seen pictures of things and people on the walls but nothing significant in Arcata.”

An earthquake-damaged house is seen in Rio del Rio on Tuesday.

(Godofredo A. Vasquez/The Associated Press)

Electricity was restored to Arcata residents on Tuesday night, according to Schaefer.

“We had a building inspector do inspections, but I think we sent them to Fortuna to help them because they were more vulnerable than we were,” she said.

Humboldt County resident Diana McIntosh, 65 of her 69 years of age, said she immediately knew to block when the shaking started.

She was asleep when she heard a crash in front of her apartment in Eureka, then the lights went out. I started screaming under the covers.

“I’ve never reacted like this to an earthquake,” Macintosh said. “It was scary, but this was really louder and louder.”

McIntosh said the cage containing the 20th century era glassware broke and destroyed the china.

“I thought I’d be able to pass that on to my daughter and grandchildren,” she said, “but this is Humboldt County, you can’t always tell.”

The county is a hotbed of seismic activity due to its many faults and its location near the Mendocino Triple Junction, a complex geological area where many plates intersect – Gorda, Pacific and North American. They were responsible for the vast majority of Humboldt earthquakes, said Lori Dengler, a geophysicist and professor emeritus at Cal Poly Humboldt.

Officials said Tuesday’s epicenter was likely on the Gorda plate.

Dengler said that although the quake was similar in magnitude to a shockwave that struck exactly a year ago, it exploded differently. Tuesday’s earthquake pushed its energy north, with some shaking felt by residents as far as Seattle, but it appeared weaker south of the epicenter.

She also described the ground acceleration, or how quickly the Earth’s velocity changes, as “amazing” and likely among the most intense in the state’s history. She said a bridge near the Rio del Record had nearly one and a half times the force of gravity, enough to “make you fly through the air a little bit”. It would have caused massive damage had the bridge not been built to cipher.

But Dengler said earthquakes in the area are often not catastrophic, because Humboldt is not a community crammed with old buildings. Prior to Tuesday, the county had recorded only two earthquake-related deaths in 1850.

She said the rural nature of the area can complicate damage assessment, and gathering robust statistics can take weeks with a shortage of local engineers and limited access.

Humboldt County is known for its dense forests, rural terrain, mist-shrouded coastal towns, and 110 miles of coastline. With a population of approximately 136,000, the county is home to more than 160,000 acres of coastal redwoods and comprises 2.3 million acres of land, 80% of which is used for trees and recreational purposes.

Times staff writer Gregory Yee contributed to this report.

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