Northern California rocked by magnitude 6.0 earthquake

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308Mike
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Joined: Wed Aug 13, 2008 3:47 pm

Northern California rocked by magnitude 6.0 earthquake

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Folks, just because this happened in CA does NOT mean it can't happen other places (see New Madrid earthquake which changed the course of the Mississippi river)!! Be prepared!!!
Northern California rocked by magnitude 6.0 earthquake
Published August 24, 2014
FoxNews.com

A magnitude 6.0 earthquake hit Northern California near Napa Valley Sunday, injuring at least 120 — 3 critically — and causing extensive damage, including fires sparked by burst gas lines, in the largest tremor to rock the Bay Area since the magnitude 6.9 Loma Prieta quake in 1989.

Leslie Gordon of the U.S. Geological Survey says the tremor struck just before 3:30 a.m. Sunday local time, about 10 miles northwest of American Canyon, which is about 6 miles southwest of Napa.

The city of Napa said in a statement Sunday that two adults and one child have critical injuries, and Queen of the Valley hospital in Napa reported treating 120 people. Hospital spokeswoman Vanessa DeGier says most patients have cuts, bumps and bruises.

Three people were admitted with broken bones and two for heart attacks, according to The Associated Press.

Napa City Manager Mike Parness said the city declared a local emergency at 8:59 a.m. California time, which is the first step in getting more help from the state.

Parness said during a news conference that about 20,000 households of 80,000 in the quake zone were without power. He added that 15 to 16 buildings were no longer inhabitable, and there was only limited access to numerous other structures, mostly ones with broken windows. Officials said they were still assessing buildings in the area.

Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency for southern Napa County, directing state agencies to respond with equipment and personnel. President Barack Obama was briefed on the earthquake, the White House said, and federal officials were in touch with state and local emergency responders.

A Red Cross evacuation center was set up at a high school, and crews were assessing damage to homes, bridges and roadways.

John Callahan of the Napa City Fire Department said there were a half-dozen multiple structure fires. One was at a mobile home park where four mobile homes have been destroyed by fire, and two others suffered major damage.

Public Works Director Jack LaRochelle assured residents the water has not been contaminated.

“The water is safe to drink,” he said. LaRochelle said that more than 60 water mains have been damaged; 20 have been turned off. He said none of the larger transmission lines had been damaged.

Napa Fire Chief Mike Randolph said firefighters were continuing to assess the damage to buildings in the downtown area, and the department was busy answering more than 100 calls reporting the smell of natural gas. That's "our primary attention right now," he said.

A number of buildings are damaged during the quake, but no number on how many was reported.

The city’s 911 emergency call system was maxed out, according to Napa Police Department operations captain Steve Potter, but he said there have been no reports of major disturbances. “We have relative calm for this magnitude of an earthquake,” he said.

Jennifer Jones Lee, who lives in the earthquake area, told Fox News the tremor “felt like someone just picked up the house, shook it for a while, then dropped it. It was incredibly violent.”

Arik Housley, who owns two grocery stores in the area, said he was awakened at about 3:30 a.m. by the shaking. “It was very jolting and probably went for 20 seconds . . . it was shaking pretty good,” said Housley, whose brother is Fox News senior correspondent Adam Housley.

Arik Housley said he passed a mobile home park where multiple fires could be seen as he drove to one of his stores to assess the damage. Housley said the shelving in his store had moved 2 feet to 3 feet from the wall, and much of his inventory had fallen to the floor, including $200 bottles of wine. Many merchants in the area forgo earthquake insurance because it’s too expensive, he said. A quake about 14 years ago resulted in about $30,000 in damage, he told Fox News, and speculated the current damage would be in excess of $100,000.

"There's collapses, fires," said Napa Fire Capt. Doug Bridewell, standing in front of large pieces of masonry that broke loose from a turn-of-the-century office building where a fire had just been extinguished. "That's the worst shaking I've ever been in."

Bridewell said he had to climb over fallen furniture in his own home to check on his family before reporting to duty.

The tremor set off car alarms and had residents of neighboring Sonoma County running out of their houses in the middle of night.

The USGS says the depth of the earthquake was just less than 7 miles, and numerous small aftershocks have occurred in the Napa wine country.

A member of Napa County dispatch tells The Associated Press that there has been one report of structural damage, but additional details were not available.

“There’s fires, debris all over the streets, everywhere,” Napa resident Karen Hunt told “Fox & Friends.”

Hunt said her husband, who is an engineer, shut off the gas line to their home to guard against explosions, then went to neighbors’ homes to do the same.

“Right now we’re just waiting for the aftershocks,” she said. She said she had not felt any, but reportedly there have been two, one at magnitude 2.5.


Hunt has said she has felt other earthquakes, but “this is way on top of anything I’ve ever felt.”

Hunt, who has lived in Napa since 1996, owns a winery. She said she heard from her partner that her 2011 and 2012 vintages had been destroyed.

“That’s pretty devastating if that’s the case,” she said.

Sunday's quake was felt widely throughout the region. People reported feeling it more than 200 miles south of Napa and as far east as the Nevada border. Amtrak suspended its train service through the Bay Area so tracks could be inspected.

California Highway Patrol Officer Kevin Bartlett said cracks and damage to pavement closed the westbound Interstate 80 connector to westbound State Route 37 in Vallejo and westbound State Route 37 at the Sonoma off ramp. He said there hadn't been reports of injuries or people stranded in their cars, but there were numerous cases of flat tires from motorists driving over damaged roads.

Thousands of small earthquakes occur in California each year, providing scientists with clear indications of places where faults cut the Earth's crust. There were 4,895 earthquakes in California between 1974 and 2003 with a magnitude of 3.5 or greater (about 163 per year).

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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A person properly schooled in right and wrong is safe with any weapon. A person with no idea of good and evil is unsafe with a knitting needle, or the cap from a ballpoint pen.

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skb12172
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Re: Northern California rocked by magnitude 6.0 earthquake

Post by skb12172 »

Yup, the Ohio Valley (including Kentucky) is overdue.
There must be an end to this intimidation by those who come to this great country, but reject its culture.
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