A 5.5 magnitude earthquake struck waters outside of Northern California on Sunday, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS). USGS said the earthquake was reported at around 11:45 a.m. on Sunday.
It was detected 63 miles west of Petrolia and 74 miles southwest of Eureka. The epicenter of the earthquake was in the Pacific Ocean. Officials say the depth of the earthquake was around 1.3 miles.
USGS’s ShakeMap recorded the earthquake’s epicenter at 6.8 on the Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale, but that intensity was not felt onshore – the USGS reported that the intensity in Petrolia was a 3.7. Nearly 100 people from as far away as Fort Bragg and Mendocino reported feeling the tremor to the agency.
The California Office of Emergency Services said on Twitter that it is working with local, state and federal authorities to assess damage from the earthquake. Petrolia is a community of a few hundred people about 250 miles north of San Francisco. Earlier Sunday, a series of quakes reaching up to 4.3 magnitude rattled the California-Nevada border near Big Pine, the USGS reported.
