CNN
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A 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck the Eureka region of Northern California early Tuesday, causing extensive damage to homes and roads, shaking people from their sleep and leaving thousands without power, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
The epicenter of the quake, which struck at 2:34 a.m. PT, was about 9 miles from the city of Ferndale on Pacific and about 15 miles from Fortuna, a community of about 12,000 people near Eureka, the survey said. That’s about a 280-mile drive northwest of Sacramento.
LIVE UPDATES: Earthquake hits Northern California
Most homes and businesses in Humboldt County were without power early Tuesday. More than 71,000 outages were reported after 6:30 a.m. PT — among 99,000 customers tracked in the county — according to utility tracker PowerOutage.us.
“Extensive damage to roads and homes” is being reported across Humboldt County, the county sheriff’s office said. He said on Twitter Tuesday morning.
Wendy Pickett wakes up to a tremor in Monolias Eureka.
“Once the shaking stopped, we got our flashlights and phones and looked around. Everything was chaotic,” Pickett Monolias said. “Things you don’t expect to see fall or break. An entire bathroom cabinet fell and broke.
The earthquake spilled several items onto the floor of Carolyn Titus’ Ferndale-area home, she said on video. Posted to TweetR shows. “It was huge. Now the power is out. The house is a big mess,” Titus wrote.
The tremor damaged part of the Fernbridge, which carries state Route 211 over the Eel River, northeast of Ferndale, CNN affiliate KRCR reported.
A picture tweeted by the California Department of Transportation showed that part of the bridge’s roadway had cracked.
“The bridge is closed while we conduct safety inspections due to possible earthquake damage,” the tweet read.
More than two dozen smaller earthquakes — as powerful as 4.6 — then struck the region, the survey reported. Public reports compiled by the survey indicated that the main quake caused at least some shaking from coastal Oregon to south of San Jose, California.
Tuesday’s tremor comes a year after a 6.2-magnitude earthquake hit roughly the same area. That earthquake struck just off Cape Mendocino in Humboldt County on December 20, 2021, and caused minor damage to buildings in the area.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said there was no current tsunami threat associated with the earthquake.
