Northern California earthquake near Ferndale, Eureka: outages reported
A preliminary magnitude 6.4 earthquake rocked Northern California early Tuesday morning, the region’s strongest quake in years.
No damage or injuries were immediately reported.
The US Geological Survey said the quake occurred at 2:34 a.m. PT in waters about 7.5 miles west of Ferndale at a depth of just over 16 miles. The city is about 19 miles south of Eureka, near the California-Oregon border.
Early Tuesday morning, the National Weather Service’s tsunami warning system reported that there was no tsunami threat associated with the quake.
Tuesday’s magnitude 6.4 earthquake may be the largest to hit California since July 2019, when a magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck the Ridgecrest area of Southern California, according to the State Department of Conservation. A magnitude 6.5 earthquake was recorded about 100 miles offshore near Ferndale in 2016.
Just before 4 a.m., PT Pacific Gas & Electric Co. reported tens of thousands of customers without power in the area. In Humboldt County alone, where Ferndale is located, more than 70,000 people were in the dark.
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The quake came just days after a small 3.6 magnitude earthquake hit the San Francisco Bay Area, waking thousands at 3:39 a.m. Saturday and causing minor damage.
This earthquake was centered in El Cerrito, about 25 miles by road from downtown San Francisco.
It also follows a magnitude 5.1 earthquake that rocked the San Francisco Bay Area in late October. No one was injured in the natural disaster. The earthquake occurred on the Calaveras Fault, one of eight major faults in the Bay Area and a branch of the San Andreas Fault Line.
One year after a magnitude 6.2 earthquake
Tuesday morning’s earthquake was the largest the region has seen in years, according to USGS data. The last notable quake was a magnitude 6.2 earthquake that struck off the Cape Mendocino area of northern California in December 2021.
This earthquake was centered off the coast about 210 miles northwest of San Francisco, right next to a small town called Petrolia which is home to less than 1,000 people.
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This is a developing story.
Natalie Neysa Alund covers trending news for USA TODAY. Contact her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on Twitter @nataliealund.
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