A 4.4 magnitude earthquake shook the Bay Area at about 6:40 p.m. Tuesday seconds before a 3.9 tremor—and just a couple days after a 2.9 jolted the region.
The U.S. Geological Survey recorded the epicenter of Tuesday’s larger quake somewhere about 4 miles north of Santa Rosa, by the Rodgers Creek Fault.
The Rodgers Creek fault is part of the San Andreas system. The last big earthquake on it was in the 18th century. It has a long term slip rate just under 1 cm/yr which puts it in the same class as Hayward, Garlock or San Jacinto. https://t.co/MptICGjmfy
— Dr. Lucy Jones (@DrLucyJones) September 14, 2022
It was enough to knock liquor bottles from shop shelves and send people ducking for cover in Sonoma County, according to local press reports.
It was also enough to trigger warnings from the ShakeAlert app, which sends notifications to subscribers about moderate-to-large earthquakes.
Almost as fast as the earth shuddered, “Earthquake Twitter” lit up in San Francisco and beyond.
yes, Bay Area, that was an earthquake https://t.co/zuYvaaKVxX
— shauna (@goldengateblond) September 14, 2022
“I got up and answered my door,” a user called @owenpeery tweeted, “i thought someone was knocking in my door, oh, it was an #earthquake.”
“Rocked and rolled WAY longer than I care for,” @TheAuthorGuy wrote. “Hope everyone’s okay.”
Remember folks: It wasn't an earthquake if you didn't tweet about it.
— Casey Pratt (@CaseyAPratt) September 14, 2022
About 760 Pacific Gas and Electric customers in Sonoma County lost power, according to the utility’s outage map.
The Santa Rosa Fire Department, meanwhile, said it responded to multiple reports of gas leaks, alarms sounding and stuck elevators—but no injuries.