Centered under the Pacific Ocean about 70 miles southwest of Eureka, the strong quake frayed nerves across most of California’s North Coast.
Items flew off shelves, cellphones blared with tsunami warnings and some people struggled to stay on their feet as a magnitude 7 earthquake rocked Northern California on Thursday.
“I have fireplaces flying forward,” said Olivia Cobian, the innkeeper at the Gingerbread Mansion, a bed-and-breakfast in the historic town of Ferndale, as sirens wailed in the background Thursday morning. “It’s insane.”
Her building, built in 1895, “looked like a war zone” after the shaking stopped.
“Claw tubs that had been lifted off [their mounts] and scooched over,” she said. “This is crazy.”
Centered under the Pacific Ocean about 70 miles southwest of Eureka, the quake frayed nerves across most of California’s North Coast. And as the shaking stopped, tsunami warnings began to blare from cellphones, with local officials worried that the strong tremor could spark a second threat.
San Francisco Zoo was evacuated and closed because of the tsunami warning, and the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District temporarily shut down the underwater Transbay Tube. By noon, the agency said on social media that it had resumed normal operations, but that riders should expect delays.
In San Francisco, firefighters scanned the beaches and ordered people to evacuate, while dozens of people gathered at the waterfront to watch the waves roll in. One man was seen watching the crashing waves with his dog, while a lone surfer remained out in the water taking advantage of the large swell.
Tsunami evacuation orders and warnings were issued for residents along the coast in West Berkeley, the Mendocino County coast and Pinole, among others. Before noon, the U.S. Tsunami Warning Center canceled the alert, informing residents there was no tsunami threat after all.
“It was a big earthquake,” said Kaitlin Graves, an employee at Petrolia General Store about 50 miles south of Eureka.
