Napa Valley / San Francisco earthquake

[WickerBill]

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/usgs-60-earthquake-shakes-northern-california-25101132

Everyone okay? I saw this on Twitter: https://twitter.com/DavidSilverOak/status/503514636290105344/photo/1


Hope that's the worst of everything.


Side note: I'm literally in the air, scheduled to land in SFO in a couple of hours. Here's to no aftershocks; and here's especially to this 6.0 not being a pre-tremor to "the big one".

[Insomniac]

My brother is on the SF side of the bay and said it just woke him up. Hopefully that's not a tremor. Seems the damage/injury is mostly the Napa side of the bay.

[cameraman]

It seems to have done the underground infrastructure in Napa no favors

[Gnam]

Ok here, but very scary. Holy moly.

From what I've seen and heard I got off light. No structural damage. Lots of stuff knocked over, broken glass, just a big mess.

The fridge walked sideways a couple of feet, a tidal wave threw 6" of water out of the pool, my 6,000 Lb pickup was pushed into the garage door with the parking brake set.

Neighbors were very cool. Block party at 3:30am.

I guess Indycar has an excuse for low turnout at Sonoma. ;)

[TravelGal]

Glad you guys checked in, especially Gnam. It's definitely like nothing you've ever felt before. The sheer power of it is beyond belief. Glad you are okay. There will be many aftershocks. By the end of the week, you'll know how large it is just by the roll. And don't be surprised if your internal gyro gets a little off and you start to feel queasy or dizzy or both. Good luck to you all. Northridge. 4:31 AM. Jan 17, 1994. Been there. Done that. Hope these recent quakes are not a precursor to another.

[Kiwifan]

Wow! Been in a Conference all day so just heard about the quake. Hope everyone ok over there.

On a side note it is our first stay in the centre of Christchurch after their quake 3 years ago. Signs all over the newly built hotel saying it is built to higher than earthquake specs. Comforting. ;-)

Funny to be staying in a new hotel with so much construction, demolition and orange cones everywhere.

Take care over there and PLEASE look after the wine. :-)

[nrc]

Side note: I'm literally in the air, scheduled to land in SFO in a couple of hours. Here's to no aftershocks; and here's especially to this 6.0 not being a pre-tremor to "the big one".

If you were going to a proper destination like Vegas this wouldn't be an issue.

[Gnam]

From the pictures I've seen on the news, it looks like Napa will be importing wine this year.
The barrel rooms just got tossed.

and now some news about me...
;)

Everything is fine here. No structural damage, just a big mess. The quake just about threw me out of bed. The shaking was very violent and lasted a really long time. Long enough to wake up and realize it was an earthquake, hear crashing and glass breaking, and kiss your ass goodbye.

As soon as it stopped, my Dad and I were up and moving. It was pitch black and I was sure the house was wrecked. Walking to the kitchen, I ran into the pantry doors which had been knocked open. In the dark, it felt like the ceiling had collapsed so I yelled to my Dad that the house had structural damage. When I got a flashlight and saw it was just a cupboard door, I felt pretty silly.

After that we got dressed, opened the garage door and had an impromptu neighborhood block party at 3:30am. No one was hurt and all the houses were still standing so we adjourned to our respective messes.

At 3:50am we started cleaning the kitchen with just three flashlights to see by. The shaking was east to west, so all the west facing cupboards had flown open and everything in them was tossed out. The shaking also walked the fridge sideways about a foot. It was mostly cans and boxes, but one large jar of Medium Pace Picante Chunky salsa took a swan dive off the top shelf and exploded on the counter, covering everything with salsa and glass. A bottle of rice wine, wine glasses, and a wood salad bowl were all shattered in the hallway, making everything sticky and sharp.

Mopping the floor by flashlight at 4 in the morning is a weird experience. Time started accelerating and it was 5am in the blink of an eye. By that time the floors were clean, so we moved from room to room putting things back in order.

In the dining room, the china cabinet had fallen over. Luckily, one of the dinning room chairs broke its fall and kept the doors closed. We tipped it upright and picked up all the contents. We picked up glass in the family room and hallway. There were tiny shards from broken pictures and bottles. I won't be walking barefoot around the house for awhile. In my office, both the bookcase and a filing cabinet were on their sides and had to be uprighted.

It was interesting to see that not everything that fell was broken. All the lamps were on the floor, but only one was broken and two others just had busted shades. A ceramic lamp fell off an end table onto a hard tile floor without any damage. Even the shade was fine. But, another lamp that fell onto carpet broke. The salsa bottle broke, but a bottle of balsamic vinegar right next to it did not. A hammer fell off a table onto a glass table top without damage, while a jam jar full of pennies fell off a bookcase and shattered.

By the time we finished inside it was light enough outside to take a look around. The first thing we saw in the backyard was that 6" of water was missing from the pool. The wood fence behind the pool was soaking wet up to a point about 4 ft high. We figure the quake created a tidal wave and threw the water out of the pool. Later we found that the pool filter had shifted and snapped a PVC pipe connection. We were able to fix it after a trip to hardware store.

The store was open, but customers were not allowed inside. You placed your order at the front door and they brought what you asked for. After that you were directed to a cashier. Once inside, we saw that most of the lights were out and there was a guy in a hazmat suit cleaning up their paint section. Most of it must have tipped over.

Driving around town we saw several knocked down chimneys and only two gas stations that were open. There were also lots of PG&E trucks fixing the overhead wires. Some intersections had lights, and others didn't. Some lights would have power when you left but be out when you came back.

Besides the hardware store we also took a ride down to my office to survey the damage. The office is 10 miles closer to the quake's epicenter than my house. I was worried the second floor offices would be trashed with bookcases and cubicle walls tossed everywhere. We found no damage. None. My desk drawers were slightly open, and I saw an apple on the floor. That was it. I'm no geologist, but that seems impossible.

The rest of the day was spent fixing or cleaning things, visiting with neighbors, talking on the phone, and watching the news once the power came back on. I think we were lucky compared to other parts of town. Our water mains did not break, so we had water all day. The power was back on by 9am, and the roads did not buckle. The power went out again at 7pm, but it was only out for two hours.

Everyone we met was friendly and patient with a good story to share. I was lucky my Dad was visiting. I could not have moved some items by myself. I didn't see any houses on fire or knocked off their foundations, but we heard lots of sirens and helicopters. I only felt one small aftershock.

There were many stories about missing pets and freaked out people. Most agreed that although it was smaller than the '89 quake, this one was more frightening. Any time there was a pause in the cleanup effort and I could reflect on what just happened all I could say was, "Oh man!" I must have said it two dozen times. Relatives calling to check up on me asked if I was worried about aftershocks. Who me? :gomer: Tonight every creak is getting my full attention. :D

[KLang]

So what was that about the wine in Napa? ;)

Glad to read you are mostly OK Gnam. :thumbup:

[Gnam]

Good photos of the worst damage. Glad there isn't more to see.
http://photos.mercurynews.com/2014/08/24/photos-6-0-earthquake-jolts-bay-area/#6

Story about the winemakers. They won't report on their damage assessments until tomorrow.
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_26399107

[Kiwifan]

Glad to hear you are ok mate, appreciate you taking the time to let us know how you are and what happened to you.

Sounds like you got away pretty lightly. What's up with your office?? Amazing. Just driving in to Christchurch it's still weird seeing some areas untouched and other areas flattened.

Take care sport.

[Gnam]

According to the USGS, the quake epicenter was directly under the Napa Valley Marina. :eek:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/38%C2%B013'12.0%22N+122%C2%B018'46.8%22W/@38.2195788,-122.3121567,674m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x0

Coordinates: 38.220°N 122.313°W
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/nc72282711#summary

They have (had?) a ton of sailboats stored on boats stands. I can't find any news reports on the condition of the marina.

some more photos of downtown:
http://naparegister.com/gallery/quake-damage-extensive/collection_8e8395b1-6e38-5d0f-8926-5bf561bbb451.html#0

http://s21.postimg.org/wfsvfz4pz/napa_valley_marina.jpg

[Gnam]

Send in the drones.

The Target store shown at the 5:30 mark of the first video has been red tagged because the tower is leaning backward toward the store. They are worried it will fall through the roof.

note: the soundtrack becomes annoying.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQhYbfIz0n4&feature=youtu.be


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Os6lDQumfv0

[Gnam]

According to the USGS, the quake epicenter was directly under the Napa Valley Marina. :eek:

They have (had?) a ton of sailboats stored on boats stands. I can't find any news reports on the condition of the marina.

A news report say a couple of boats slipped off their stands, but nothing was broken. :thumbup:
I was expecting a pile of matchsticks.


http://video.sfgate.com/Napa-Earthquake-Epicenter-26550542#.U_zhcMJ0ypo

[Ankf00]

DC earthquake still had more cred w/ the press :gomer:

[Gnam]

East coast bias. ;)

[Gnam]

Know your Bay Area earthquakes.

http://s23.postimg.org/rdt016lwb/quakemap_600xx1200_1800_0_0.png

[indyfan31]

I was in Santa Rosa for the marathon. Alarm set to go off at 3:30 am . . . didn't need it. The wife and I had an upstairs apartment in the hills South of town. The building moved more than any structure I've ever been in. Absolutely nothing broke, I was very surprised, that was pretty violent shaking. Fortunately Santa Rosa had no damage whatsoever.
Very sad news about Napa especially the folks who lost everything in the fires. The drought is putting a lot of pressure on growers there, this is very unfortunate. One report that surprised me was a local winery owner saying that the greatest loss was not the retail wines but the research wines that are irreplaceable.

Glad you're well Gnam.

[Gnam]

Thanks for all the well wishes everyone. :)

Better news today. Schools reopened, and most of the wineries up valley in Calistoga and St. Helena were unaffected. They want everyone to know they are open for business.

The Oakland Raiders, who hold their annual summer training camp at a Napa school, donated $50,000 to local charities. :thumbup:

The water mains are still springing leaks, but the city crews are getting real good at fixing them.

[Ankf00]

American Canyon? isn't there some big amusement park right there?