Intense earthquake triggers tsunami scare along California coast

A magnitude 7.0 earthquake hit just off the northern California coast Thursday morning, leaving over 5 million people under a tsunami warning for about an hour, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The projected tsunami threat began outside the west coast city of Santa Cruz in central California up the coastline to southern Oregon. The quake struck just before 11 a.m. PST about 45 miles southwest of Eureka at a depth of eight miles. More than 16,000 homes in California were left without power Thursday afternoon following the quake, according to PowerOutage.us.

How much damage did the earthquake cause? An estimated 150,000 people likely felt the quake, from Fort Bragg to Eureka, according to data from the United States Geological Survey. Officials expect most of the damage to be localized with a generally low economic impact. The agency also said there was a low likelihood of casualties from the quake.

Dig deeper: Read Mary Muncy’s report of a similar earthquake striking the same area in 2022.