Tsunami warning clears coast

The tsunami warning issued by the weather service buzzed the smartphones of many residents and was in effect from the area of Davenport in Santa Cruz County up into Oregon. It was canceled as of shortly before noon but led people in many Northern California coastal communities to leave for higher elevations.

“I was upstairs, heard my phone go off with a quake alert, and the shaking started less than two seconds later, which is noteworthy,” Dan Potash said, who lives in a house by the bluff in the town of Mendocino. “The biggest concern was it getting worse and longer. I spent the better part of the next half-hour staring at the horizon to see if I could see any change in the water, but all seemed calm.”

Neighbors jumped in their car and drove to higher ground and gathered up pets so they were ready to go, he said.

In San Mateo County, the California Highway Patrol closed westbound State Route 92 from Interstate 280 to stop people from going to the coastal Half Moon Bay region, while eastbound State Route 92 was backed up with traffic trying to flee the area.

Evacuation orders were not issued but law enforcement and fire agencies cleared the beaches, according to county officials.

BART announced shortly after 11 a.m. that Transbay Tube service was shut down as a result of the quake and tsunami warning, but said in an update at about 11:45 a.m. that service was resuming, though with major delays.

The San Francisco Zoo announced that guests were evacuated and animals and staff were moving to higher ground and the Exploratorium along the San Francisco waterfront was among other businesses and attractions in the region that shut down as a result of the warning.

The San Francisco Fire Department said on social media shortly after noon that “residents who followed tsunami evacuation routes or sought high ground can begin to return to their homes using caution.”

Numerous cities urged people to evacuate to higher ground as a precaution.

In Santa Cruz, authorities cleared the main beach, taping off entrances with police tape. Aerial footage showed cars bumper-to-bumper heading to higher ground on Highways 1 and State Route 92.

“I thought my axles had fallen apart,” said Valerie Starkey, a Del Norte County supervisor representing Crescent City, a town of fewer than 6,000 near the Oregon border. “That’s what I was feeling. ... ‘My axles are broken now.’ I did not realize it was an earthquake.”

Cindy Vosburg, the executive director for the Crescent City-Del Norte County Chamber of Commerce, said she heard alarms sound just before shaking began and the city’s cultural center downtown started to creak.

“Just as it would start to subside, the building would roll again,” Vosburg said.

White House spokesperson Jeremy Edwards said President Joe Biden was briefed on the earthquake and that FEMA officials are in touch with their state and local counterparts in California and Oregon.

Gov. Gavin Newsom said he has signed off on a state of emergency declaration to quickly move state resources to impacted areas along the coast. State officials were concerned about damages in the northern part of the state, Newsom said.

Crews in Eureka, the biggest city in the region, were assessing if there was any damage. Eureka Mayor Kim Bergel, who works at a middle school, said lights were swaying and everyone got under desks.

“The kids were so great and terrified. It seemed to go back and forth for quite a long time,” she said. Some children asked, “Can I call my mom?”

The students were later sent home.

In nearby Arcata, students and faculty were urged to shelter in place at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt.

Humboldt County Sheriff William Honsal said residents experienced some cracks in their homes’ foundations, as well as broken glass and windows, but nothing severe.

Honsal said he was in his office in the 75-year-old courthouse in downtown Eureka when he felt the quake.

“We’re used to it. It is known as ‘earthquake country’ up here,” he said. “It wasn’t a sharp jolt. It was a slow roller, but significant.”

This quake was a strike-slip type of temblor that shifts more horizontally and is less prone to cause tsunamis, unlike the more vertical types, said National Weather Service tsunami program manager Corina Allen in Washington state.

The California Geological Survey says the state’s shores have been struck by more than 150 tsunamis since 1800, and while most were minor, some have been destructive and deadly.

On March 28, 1964, a tsunami triggered by a powerful earthquake in Alaska smashed into Crescent City hours later. Much of the business district was leveled and a dozen people were killed. More recently, a tsunami from a 2011 earthquake in Japan caused about $100 million in damages along the California coast, much of it in Crescent City.