EUREKA, Calif. — A powerful magnitude 7.0 earthquake was felt widely across Northern California on Thursday, prompting authorities to issue a tsunami warning that was later canceled.
There were no reports of damage in San Joaquin County. But the quake did jangle the nerves of those whose early earthquake warning apps were activated on their cellphones.
The temblor struck at 10:44 a.m. west of Ferndale, a small city in coastal Humboldt County, about 130 miles from the Oregon border, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
It was felt as far south as San Francisco, some 270 miles away, where residents felt a rolling motion for several seconds. It was followed by smaller aftershocks.
The National Weather Service in Sacramento said that before it was canceled, the tsunami warning extended along the coast from Eureka to the Bay Area, but did not reach into the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta.
A meteorologist who spoke with Stocktonia said the shaking was not felt in his office.
The same appeared to be true in Stockton.
“We did not feel it at all,” said Sgt. Jim Bock, a spokesperson for San Joaquin Delta College’s Police Department in Stockton.
Bock said his cellphone provided warning of the incoming quake as soon as it occurred. He saw the quake was in Humboldt County and he prepared himself for the shaking that he thought might be coming his way. But it never happened.
Officer David Scott said the Stockton Police Department hadn’t had any reports of damage, or even anyone calling in who had felt the quake.
In San Francisco, however, the Bay Area Rapid Transit District, known as BART, stopped traffic in all directions through the underwater tunnel between San Francisco and Oakland.
The San Francisco Zoo’s visitors were evacuated, the zoo said in a post on the social media platform X. The animals were secured, and staff was moved to higher ground.
At least 5.3 million people in California were briefly under a tsunami warning after the quake, the U.S. Geological Survey said in a yellow alert, which predicts localized but minimal damage.
More than 1.3 million people lived close enough to the quake that they could have felt it, the USGS estimated.
Shortly after the quake, phones in Northern California buzzed with the tsunami warning from the National Weather Service that said: “A series of powerful waves and strong currents may impact coasts near you. You are in danger. Get away from coastal waters. Move to high ground or inland now. Keep away from the coast until local officials say it is safe to return.”
Stocktonia staff writer Chris Woodyard and the Associated Press contributed to this report.