7.0 quake strikes Northern California, triggers brief tsunami warning

always live ABC7 News starts right now good afternoon I'm Kristen Z thanks for joining us our big story today that 7. 0 earthquake that happened off the Humble County Coast north of us happened just before 11 a. m.

and it was a 7. 0 which is very large and after that there was a tsunami warming that stretch from Santa Cruz all the way to Oregon that tsunami warning has since been cancelled the there have been dozens of aftershocks though following that initial Quake they've happened off the coast of Humble County there are reports uh feeling the shaking from Seattle down to San Diego information is still coming in and we're learning about some damage we certainly saw things that fell off shelves Etc but no reports of serious injuries a little more detail now in background this Quake hit at 10:44 this morning it was initially reported as a 6. 0 but was quickly revised by USGS to 7.

0 just 5 minutes later a tsunami warning issued or was issued stretching again from Oregon down to Santa Cruz early projections were the tsunami was due to hit San Francisco at 1210 p. m. so as a result there were widespread evacuations across the bay area then about an hour after the Quake at 11:54 the tsunami warning was finally cancelled the this afternoon Governor newsam issued a state of emergency declaration for the northern part of the state he also explained why a tsunami warning was sent out and later lifted it is part of a protocol tsunami warnings anytime you're 5.

0 or greater around a coastal region typically goes into effect it allows us to back off through abundance of caution uh that was lifted uh nonetheless uh we're concerned about damage particularly in the northern part of the state and delnort mesino in hanbul County as a consequence of that the governor says National Guard resources are being sent to the area with early damage assessments already underway now we know we should prepare for an earthquake but are you ready get a kit make a plan and be informed if you need help you can check out abc7news. com prepared NorCal on our website one city that experienced Quake damage is Ferndale just south of Eureka where there are also reports of some damage to buildings and infrastructure damage is reported at the historic Ferndale Inn Ferndale city clerk says the city manager and police were combing the town for damage and schools across the bay area here evacuated following the tsunami warning sky7 was above oceanana high school in da City where you see evacuated students assembled on a field schools in Berkeley were also evacuated as well as Strawberry Point Middle School Tam Valley at mil Valley Middle Schools as well now take a look at this Northbound traffic on Highway 1 in Pacifica was packed with cars after the evacuation warning Sky 7 was overhead you can see traffic snaked along the Pacific Coast Highway for Miles as folks heated the warning to seek Higher Ground while the beaches were mostly clear of people it didn't stop Surfers from going out there and being in the water which authorities certainly would have said please don't do that we saw several Surfers still riding the waves at lindar beach in Pacifica police officers were in fact asking people to clear the beach until again an hour later when it was determined that the tsunami was not going to happen and that's a fortunate thing because even a small tsunami could cause great destruction we saw that in 2011 after a quake in Japan triggered a tsunami that brought a two-foot wave to Santa Cruz Harbor it caused a $100 million in damage again the worst seems to be uh avoided in this case but we certainly have been tracking this quake and what it's done meteorologist S Patel has more on the numbers here Sania yeah Kristen and you know what we continue to see aftershocks following that major 7. 0 earthquake the depth was 6 miles at 10:44 this morning off the humbled County Coast as you just mentioned look at the dozens of aftershocks 65 to be precise maximum magnitude following the seven was a 5.

0 now we also saw this morning some earthquakes right around the lake County area so when I query this data here you will see that there were multiple uh reports 4. 0 was a maximum magnitude now with that 7. 0 earthquake the strongest shaking was felt right near the epicenter as you can see on the shake intensity map but that earth earthquake was felt across Northern California all the way down towards the Monteray Bay and even points Southward as we look at a closer view not as strong it was weak to light but it was felt now let's talk about the San Andreas fault the northern periphery stretches all the way out towards where this earthquake occurred initially I do want to explain something that tsunami warning was issued for the West Coast that included California the Bay Area it was initially believed that this was a vertical movement of the plates now that tends to uh definitely trigger tsunamis but in this situation after they reassessed it they found out there was horizontal movement of the plate known as a strike slip uh this primarily when uh plates passed side by side to each other so it's less likely to create a tsunami Uh current wave heights you will see are 5 to 7 feet this is not out of the ordinary so in case you're wondering tsunami formation what happens the crust gets thrust upward the water flows outward the water is displaced and you will definitely see the water piling up closer to the Shoreline so that's something to keep in mind in the event that we go through another one of these on the earthquake magnitude scale a seven is a major earthquake you usually see about 18 per year but where that earthquake occurred off the humbal county Coast is a seismically active area so it is not uncommon to see earthquakes like this just a friendly reminder what to do if you have a tsunami warning obviously move Inland to Higher Ground about a mile Inland Coastal communities definitely need to do that make a plan perhaps to find a point where you want to meet with your family and the last thing is look for any warning signs if you do see the water all of a sudden receding or all of a sudden starting to build a sudden draining of the ocean water watch out definitely get out of the water obviously that is not the place to be Kristen siia thank you so much and the tsunami warning prompted the closure of the Great Highway in San Francisco and uh really cash Surfers from the water at Ocean Beach that's where ABC7 news reporter an Hassan is standing by live with reaction and response from emergency crews answer yeah Kristen good afternoon what a difference a few hours can make you see the waves are still coming in pretty consistent we spoke to people who live one block from here they are relieved that that tsunami warning was cancelled you needed to start heading up right now the San Francisco Fire Department warning was clear get out after a tsunami warning was issued for California's Coast we were actually at a farmers market and I said well let's get home and make sure that we're there at least Peter Peri lives just one block from Ocean Beach he says as time went by and the waves weren't getting bigger he felt like things might be okay we have our go go bags and everything ready to go and stuff like that so we're prepared but I immediately looked at everything I could find and I could tell that well might be one foot or two foot and this is more than enough of a cliff and a BM to deal with that Thursday morning 7.

0 magnitude earthquake was reported off the coast of Northern California which prompted the tsunami warning some Surfers were already in the water when the warning was issued Jay laviolet says surfing is part of his daily routine he didn't ignore the warning but he says Once In The Water he could sense that the water did not feel different just the way it is here that there's the the um breake wall like the seaw wall I think it would take a a seriously huge you know for it to really impact our neighborhood we were expecting the tsunami to hip the coast around 12:10 this afternoon it was right around that same time that we got the alert that that warning had been canceled since then it has been a steady stream of people coming out just to enjoy the weather and the waves reporting live Anar Hass ABC7 News aner thank you so much aner and all of us we were all on the air very early this morning just right after the earthquake hit and we stayed on late to cover the the tsunami warning and the impact here in the Bay Area so when breaking news happens you'll find us on TV on abc7news.