A major earthquake struck off the coast of Northern California late Thursday morning, triggering a tsunami alert in the Bay Area that sent people scrambling for higher ground before it was ultimately canceled an hour later.
People in communities near the coastline were told to evacuate immediately after the 10:44 a.m. temblor that topped store shelves and caused other minor damage in the region. No injuries or major structural damage was reported; there were brief power and internet outages, but most services were quickly brought back online.
Coastal residents jammed tsunami evacuation routes and boats were being hastily brought in as authorities broadcast via phone alerts that the waves would arrive around noon. But as the time came and went, the waves never materialized, and the evacuation order was lifted.
More than a dozen aftershocks, some as strong as 3.9, were recorded in the hour or so after the initial quake, which immediately trigged the tsunami warning. The swarm, clustered around the San Andreas Fault, only initially included one inland jolt, near Redding.
