Photos from Napa and Northern California Earthquake Aftermath (photo heavy)

[yuiyoshida]

CHP officers shut down an offramp from Highway 37 to Sonoma Blvd. as a strong earthquake hit the San Francisco Bay Area centered near American Canyon, Calif., on Sunday, August 24, 2014. Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle | Buy this photo








Northern California quake: 'It was nerve-wracking'

(08-24) 06:25 PDT NAPA -- Many people awakened by Sunday's earthquake described it as long, rolling, almost gentle. Near the quake's epicenter in the North Bay, however, it was anything but soothing.

Erica Gregory, who was brewing coffee while working by herself at the 24-hour Shell gas station on Highway 29 in Vallejo, said items started to fly off the shelves when the 6.0-magnitude quake hit just northwest of nearby American Canyon.

"It was nerve-wracking," Gregory said. "You just have to stand there and take it."

In Benicia, several miles from the epicenter, the quake was strong enough to knock pictures off shelves.

Darryl Sismil, owner of Marin Computer Service in Santa Rosa, described the tremor as "just a rolling sensation. It felt like I was on a boat in the bay."

more..http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Northern-California-quake-It-was-nerve-wracking-5708857.php

[Cha]

1. Mahalo yuiyoshida~ Lots of damage but hoping no one got hurt. That's a pretty

big shake up for the Earth to move things around and make a big ol mess. I know some of you all are "use to it" but Geeze!

[JaneyVee]

2. Napa Valley? OMG IS THE WINE ALRIGHT?! (also the people?)

J/K. I hope everyone is ok and stays safe. We had a 2.3 earthquake here in NYC 2 yrs ago and it was terrifying. 6.1 is SCARY.

[smirkymonkey]

3. Wow, that looks pretty frightening!

Did you feel it? The largest quake that I felt when I lived in SF was one of the rolling type described above. It was a very strange sensation. I felt very disoriented afterward.

[yuiyoshida]

7. yes absolutely, and

I am on pretty solid ground, here. It was a roller, wave after wave getting stronger and stronger as time goes by. The house was creaking, and moving. Stuff rattled around. The disorientation for me comes when it first starts, your thought is.. "What is that?" than you realize its a quake and you mind says "Okay we have a choice here..hold on to something or dive under something", (Like a desk) but you also think, how strong is this going to get? The Desk diving happens when its way too strong..but this one mellowed out at the end. I have not felt any after shocks, but I don't live that close to Napa. I am in the city..but we still felt it in the city.

[smirkymonkey]

10. Glad you are ok!

[Liberal_in_LA]

4. kick

[Arugula Latte]

5. Scary stuff. I've talked to East Bay-ers who got jolted pretty hard, as well.

[bigtree]

6. kick

[magical thyme]

8. have to admit the 1st 2 kindof made me laugh; looks like my kitchen when I'm in a big cooking

project. Then the wine pix made me cry.

Seriously, though, that looks like it was very scary. If a 6.0 does that, I would hate to see a big one!

[Eyerish]

9. kick

[Art_from_Ark]

11. I have been in a few earthquakes that felt like "a boat in the bay"

The strongest was a 5.6, with an epicenter just one mile from my house. Fortunately, there was no damage, but there was the strangest atmosphere in the house afterward, as if it had been transported to the middle of a cemetery.