Residents of Napa, California are facing a lengthy cleanup following an earthquake that hit over the weekend. Businesses remained closed while workers did their best to assess the damage. VPC
Pedestrians stop to examine a crumbling facade at the Vintner's Collective tasting room in Napa, Calif., after an earthquake Aug. 24, 2014.(Photo: Noah Berger, AP)
NAPA, Calif. – Scores of businesses in this picturesque wine-making town north of San Francisco eagerly reopened Monday, one day after the most powerful earthquake to strike the region in 25 years caused extensive damage.
Determined to keep tourism revenue flowing, coffee shops greeted customers looking for their morning joe, and wine tasting rooms opened on schedule. Business owners were determined to clean up and leave the earthquake in the past.
Napa County Supervisor Bill Dodd spent Monday morning helping clean out a water distribution warehouse he owns in American Canyon, near the epicenter of the 6.0-magnitude quake that struck at 3:20 a;m. Sunday. "We had water gushing out the door yesterday," he said. On Monday, he said, it's all about cleaning up and moving on. "We'll get through this," he said.
Some streets in Napa, a town of 77,000, remained snarled by rubble from the strongest quake to shake the San Francisco Bay area since the magnitude-6.9 Loma Prieta quake struck in 1989, collapsing part of the Bay Bridge roadway and killing more than 60 people, most when an Oakland freeway fell. A magnitude 6.9 quake is at least 20 times as powerful as one measuring 6.0, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The Napa earthquake sent at least 172 people to a hospital for treatment, and three were reported in critical condition.
In Napa neighborhoods Monday morning, construction company trucks were everywhere. The sounds of drills and plywood being cut were constant.
Still, there was little obvious damage outside of older brick buildings in the central part of town. In homes, the problems were mostly in older chimneys and some wooden structures.
The Napa Unified School District closed for students, but teachers and staff arrived to check on the district's more than two dozen schools. School has been in session since Aug. 13. For parents without other child-care options, the Boys and Girls Clubs of Napa Valley are providing free care and activities for students as long as schools remain closed.
Signs of the earthquake were mostly small yet clear. On Napa-Vallejo Highway, one of the main routes into Napa from San Francisco, a deep crack crosses the roadway and is marked by orange safety cones. It has been filled in with asphalt, but still jolts vehicles as they cross it.
The quake, which knocked out power to thousands of people and hit the wine-making industry on the eve of its harvest, could result in more than $100 million in losses, authorities estimated. Napa is home to nearly 800 wineries, which produced 49.7 million cases of wine in 2012, according to the Napa Valley Vintners, a trade group.
Pacific Gas & Electric, which serves the area, says it will look for possible gas leaks in coming days. PG&G says it has received hundreds of calls from people reporting the smell of gas since the quake struck and that 20 customers remained without gas Monday morning.
Guests in the five-story Andaz Napa hotel, one of the tallest buildings in the city, were immediately evacuated after the quake hit, many remaining on the sidewalk with their luggage even hours later, wondering about alternative accommodations, the Napa Valley Register reports. One guest, Cheryllyn Tallman, told the newspaper she was so shaken she planned to cut short her wine country vacation and head back home to the East Coast.
"I live in Upstate New York," Tallman said. "We just have blizzards — and they tell you when they are coming."
Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency for Napa, Solano and Sonoma counties.
"While it was bad, it wasn't as bad as it could be and it was very manageable from a regional perspective," said Mark Ghilarducci, director of the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services.
Residents, however, were bracing for aftershocks that usually follow big temblors.
On Sunday night in Southern California, a small, magnitude-3.3 earthquake hit off the region's coast. The U.S. Geological Survey said the temblor struck at 7:50 p.m. and was centered about five miles southwest of San Pedro. There were no initial reports of damage, police said.
State geologist John Parrish said the aftershocks will decrease in magnitude and that it is unlikely there will be a large follow-up earthquake. Still, he warned people to be careful because newly damaged buildings are now more susceptible to collapse from aftershocks.
About 15 buildings were damaged too severely to allow people inside, and many more awaited further evaluation. Ghilarducci said 90 to 100 homes and buildings were deemed uninhabitable.
Contributing: Greg Toppo, Donna Leinwand Leger, Katharine Lackey, Marisol Bello and Doyle Rice from McLean, Va.; Catalina Camia from D.C.; William M. Welch from Los Angeles; Laura Mandaro from San Francisco; Associated Press
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