Northern California experienced its strongest earthquake since 1940 on Wednesday morning when a 5.6-magnitude tremor struck Mendocino County, causing widespread shaking but no immediate reports of major damage or injuries.
The earthquake hit about 7 miles (12 kilometers) northwest of Willits, an agricultural town, at 8:10 a.m. PT, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The quake was centered inland, roughly 50 miles (80 kilometers) east of Fort Bragg and occurred at a depth of about 5 miles (8 kilometers). Residents across the region, including coastal communities, reported feeling the shaking.
The quake struck an area of Mendocino County known for small farming communities about 140 miles (225 kilometers) northeast of San Francisco. While earthquakes are common in California, experts said this event was unusual because it occurred away from a major fault line and was the strongest in the area in nearly nine decades.
Veteran California seismologist Lucy Jones said the region does experience earthquakes but they are typically smaller.
She warned that aftershocks were likely, though they would “probably stay on the low side.” Three smaller earthquakes, all below magnitude 2.7, were recorded near the epicenter within an hour of the main quake.
At Club Calpella Restaurant, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) south of the epicenter in Calpella, workers were caught off guard by the sudden shaking. Brie Leon said she had just turned on the restaurant’s open sign when the quake hit.
“It almost felt like something hit the building,” Leon said.
The shaking sent plates and liquor bottles rattling, knocked frames off walls, and sent bottles falling from shelves in the restaurant and storage areas. Despite the mess, Leon and her coworkers quickly began cleaning up before breakfast customers arrived.
“It wasn’t a big, big quake, but things went everywhere,” she said.
In Kelseyville, Alan Harris was at home with his family when his cellphone delivered an earthquake alert. Seconds later, the house began shaking violently.
“I yelled downstairs immediately to my wife and daughter to make sure they were hanging on,” Harris said. “It was scary.”
Security camera footage from inside his home captured the sounds of items shaking and crashing as they fell. The quake lasted about 30 seconds, knocking framed photos loose and toppling a computer monitor.
Harris said no structural damage was found, but after living in the area for 10 years, he described it as “by leaps and bounds above everything else, the biggest we’ve felt here.”
Residents farther west also felt the quake. Andrea Medina, who was working at Cafe One in Fort Bragg, described the shaking as noticeable but “not too strong.” Fawnell Dale, a dispatch supervisor with the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office in Ukiah, said officials had received no reports of injuries or damage.
The California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) said nearly 657,000 earthquake early warning alerts were sent across Northern California through the MyShake App. Officials said they had not received any reports of damage or injuries but were working with local authorities to monitor the situation.
