smith valley, nevada. which is really far away. at 5.9, you can understand. folks in the millennium tower, that is a high-rise, definitely felt the shaking. the farther up you go, the more you might feel it. here is the usgs map. you can see the two dots. the one on the right is smith valley and the second red dot would be the farmington area. >> just giving you an idea of where exactly this is. all of us at the station had to google these locations, because we had heard of these names, but did not know exactly where they were on the map. this is three hours east of sacramento. at least that is where smith valley, nevada, is located. it appears to be quite rural and not heavily populated. taking a look at twitter, we are seeing a tremendous amount of people weighing in, saying

yes, they have felt it, across the bay area. even in san francisco. that gives you an idea of the magnitude of this quake being 5.9. >> it's interesting. if you look at the times, it appears farmington registered about 30 seconds after smith valley. if you look at the distance and the travel, that makes sense. a lot of people reported simultaneous earthquakes, very close to each other. the one east of stockton, 4.9. and then the 5.9 registering in smith valley. we did feel it in the bay area and you are seeing reports if you pull up the shake map. you will see where folks are reporting hearing it. a lot of folks in the bay area, east bay, south bay, northbay feeling it. since those locations are quite rural, our hope is that

because, hopefully not a lot of tall buildings, hopefully there won't be a lot of damage. even though 5.9 can certainly cause a lot of disruption like we saw in napa. that was a 5.0, but we have old buildings there, brick buildings, downtown. so we are waiting to see what comes out of the smith valley in that area, but it is rural. >> right now the good news is we are not getting reports of injuries or damage. we are taking a live look at our shake map. you can see the epicenter in the starred area and surrounding areas in green and blue. something we should probably point out is that during an earthquake situation, the usgs, their numbers as to the magnitude of these quakes do change periodically. so at one time this was a much more severe, 6.2. however, that has been downgraded to about a 5.9, like we said. there was that 4.8 in

farmington, just a few hours east of stockton. once again, taking a look at the shake map and how much impact this 5.9 has made, even though it was across state lines. we could feel it all the way here in the bay area. taking a look online, on twitter, people are saying this really caught them off guard. coming from places such as concord. we are getting reports from people in reno, saying they felt it. their dog felt it. even in pleasant hill, grizzly flats of california. truly a tremendous shake being felt in nevada and california. >> we do have a viewer in the east bay, concord, walnut creek area, saying felt a little, not too much. smith valley is far away from us, like 244 miles. so we felt that before coming down to the studio, about 10 minutes before the show. many of you, please do share

your experience with us on twitter. what we can see so far, a couple of the feeds we follow out of nevada, not seeing damage so far. not hearing about reports. keep in mind that is a rural area. even though 5.9 is sizable. the other thing, i'm curious if we can pull that up and see what fault it is associated with. when you think going inland as far as nevada, it is not like here on the faultlines, with so many running through. san andreas, hayward, so many of that i could not name one in the nevada area. >> we are so focused on the ones that affect us on a daily basis. we should point out that on june 28, spencer and i were in the studio when we felt a 4.2 coming from the san leandro area. i know a lot of people, especially now, are on edge after experiencing, perhaps, that.

and then one so quickly after and one that magnitude. i think a lot of things are going to be unfolding and we will continue to follow this as the evening progresses. >> right now, let's get spencer in. you do not feel this one. >> here in the studio, we did not feel anything. i've got a graphic here that i'm trying to get completed. anyhow, the intensity felt in places like stockton, which is nearby, shows that it felt like maybe a 2.0. we know the actual quake reported by the usgs is 5.9. you can see over to yoga pass, some shaking over there as well. i felt nothing in the studio, but others did. the question always comes up, is there a connection between earthquakes and weather? no science so far has shown a connection between the two. the fact it is hot today does not mean this is earthquake weather. of course the center of the quake was far from here, not even near the bay area.

>> you are right. spencer, it is interesting. you don't see a 5.0 in nevada very often, when you go inland. that is interesting and now we are seeing aftershocks, if you will, centered in markleeville in the same general area as farmington. i am not totally familiar with that area, but they are generally quite rural. hopefully we won't be getting reports of serious damage or certainly injuries, is our hope. out of that when they were registering 4.8. 5.9 so far in smith valley, after the revision from the 6.2. >> we mentioned the tubing very close in time to one another and it looks like they were within a minute. i think that is why there was confusion as to which one was felt in san francisco. the one in california or the

one just across the border in nevada as we take a look at the map right now. >> right. let's give you some of the magnitudes of the aftershocks coming in. we are seeing 3.7, the most recent. there was 4.2 and 3.1 and a 3.4. so at least for the registered over 2.5 out of farmington, in san joaquin county. and of course further east, a minute before that in smith valley, nevada. just across the california border. there was a 5.9 that was felt widely in the bay area. san francisco, east bay, oakland, walnut creek area, even the south bay. that jolted people awake this sleepy afternoon. >> no kidding, but i think of anything the saving grace of this situation is that yes, these instances happened and not very populated areas. oftentimes we hear of objects

falling from shelves or people being knocked to the ground, but that was not the case. these were in areas that are perhaps not well populated. not many people knew initially exactly what the largest city was in comparison to where they were located and therefore we have not heard reports of injuries. we have not heard reports of public transportation in the city needing to be shut down as a precaution or put on a delay. something also to point out is even though certain people felt it in san francisco, there was not that need to delay certain public transportation, which is protocol for what happens when you do feel something in closer proximity. something located directly in the bay area. >> right. reno, nevada. carson city. a lot of people there reported feeling the quake, certainly

the one in smith valley, nevada. again, it is hard for us to say which, because they happen so close to each other, that we are feeling the shaking from more that we did, but i will say that i looked out my workspace and said, if that is based around here i would put that at a 3.2 or 3.5. if it were farther away, of course, it could be much bigger. i did not expect it to be such a big one out of nevada. i was surprised. >> i think it caught a lot of people off guard and for us in the studio, we did not feel anything. >> because you are on the first floor and i was on the second floor. >> right. also people in our control room, and we have one on the first and one on the second. it was interesting hearing the conflicting reports. it really varies depending on where you happen to be. >> exactly. and the kind of soil your building is built on and also how sensitive you are, a little bit. >> and if you happen to be exercising or doing something

with a lot of movement. >> absolutely. checking againon the aftershocks, there are quite a number of them. another 3.5 in the same area that just came in, so at least half a dozen now. the one in california measured 4.8. felt by a lot of people, certainly, in the east bay. across the bridge you are feeling it or felt it. i don't know if you are feeling the aftershocks. we have not here. >> speaking of that, it's always interesting to hear from you what you are doing or where you are located if you felt it, so we do remind you, had to abc7news.com and also facebook and twitter and leave your comments. it would be great to hear what your own personal experience was during this time. >> s and r producer brought new information from caltrans. sometimes these things happen. rockslides of happened, apparently possibly related. u.s. 395 and state route 89.

that was following the earthquake. because of this, traffic could be delayed or rerouted as crews worked to remove the rocks from the road, so you will definitely want to be careful if you are taking a road trip there. again, caltrans reporting to several reports of rockslides after that earthquake. >> something important to note there. i do want to get everyone up to speed if you're just tuning in. we do want to go over a pair of earthquakes that hit the california and nevada areas. not only farmington, but also smith valley, nevada. about 2 1/2 hours east of sacramento, east of the stockton area. the aftershocks could be felt all in the bay area and surrounding. >> that is true. when you look at who felt that where, on usgs, you see all over the bay area people reporting. even along the coast, which is

further. folks felt that big in the sacramento area. so, yeah, a lot of reactions to these earthquakes that happened within one minute of each before we on ai e 4:00 again, not seeing any reports i isered it could have damaged the roadway. hopefully something that can be cleared quickly and there were no cars that were hit as the rocks came down and hopefully it is not something that will cut people off in terms of the routes, but we will keep you posted. >> as of now, no reports of injuries, but those delays are minor as of now and we will keep you abreast of any developments that come into the newsroom. >> all right, we're going to keep looking for new information for you. we do encourage you to share with us if you definitely felt it or have pictures. if you are in that area. i know some of you may watch

the live stream, in the san joaquin valley area, where of course one of these two earthquakes was based. farmington, 4.8 for you guys there and we believe what we felt in san francisco are those waves that came our way that originated in farmington or perhaps even smith valley. both happened very close together. >> if we could now, we do have someone on the line joining us. his name is jeff and he is coming to us from mountain view barbecue in walker, california. jeff, can you hear us? hey there jeff, can you hear us? >> yes, can you hear me? >> absolutely. tell us, what happened, where were you and what did you experience where you were in walker? >> well, i was here at the restaurant and you know, it was to very, very heavy jolts that came through. one right behind the other and

things were flying off the shelves. it was quite a ride. but everybody is okay. i am looking at people coming in the restaurant right now that were coming down the road. i know there are boulders that have fallen. 395, south of walker. and a road slide north of walker. >> so you are actually in between, aren't you? these two locations? >> it appears to be. >> about equidistant. >> our little area recently experienced a very violent wildfire, so half of our community burned up and now we have a major earthquake that just happened. i am not sure what is going on with this area, but i'm not sure this is the right place to be. >> i know you probably have not had too much time to take stock, but if you have been out

and about on the street, have you seen any sign of damage? >> other than the reported rockslides, i have not seen any damage other than things falling off the shelves. >> did things fall off the shelves in your restaurant? >> yeah, we have a lot of knickknack things all over the place and they are on the floor. >> did you have broken plates or something? i hope not. >> not so much broken plates, but we have jim beam bottles, very old bottles and that kind of stuff on shelves. they are all on the floor right now. not a real big deal. no structural damage that i can tell to the restaurant. i am looking down the street both ways and i do not see any action going on anywhere. >> were car alarms going off like crazy? >> no, we are out in the middle

of nowhere, so we don't have car alarms to go off so much. >> i have to applaud you, because you have such composure to your voice in telling your story. clearly, with people near you having sustained any injuries and no significant damage, you have been very calm and keeping those at your restaurant in a state of not panicking. and the people you say are still coming in, you still have customers. >> they pulled over, because i think they may be stuck now, kind of in between. i do not know that for sure, but people are turning around. coming back north. so i am assuming that whatever happened up in the canyon is may be blocking the road at this point in time. >> that can be so challenging, if you really need that route. >> that is the only route.

it is the only route over here. >> something we should point out is our producer just let us know that that 4.8 magnitude quake in farmington, she described it as off the table. that is something to keep in mind. we are focusing on the earthquake that happened in smith valley, nevada. >> what probably happened is as the smith valley waves propagated and traveled westward and eventually had the farmington area 30 seconds later, that initially read as a separate quake. this does happen, too. usgs will make revisions, because you have those sensors. i think now it looks like they are considering this the one quake that originated from smith valley. i am not a seismologist, but reporting what we have encountered in the past. if this originated in smith valley, i have got to ask you. have you experienced quakes of this magnitude in that area? as you said, wildfires aside,

it is pretty sleepy there as far as earthquakes, isn't it? >> you know, we have had some minor ones. 2.3, 2.7, that kind of thing. but they are very far and few in between and this one was just, you know, it was one of those real ones. things were shaking and it was a good one, for sure. nothing like it since i have been here and i have been here 27 years. >> it's not like here. those of us in the bay area are pretty used to that size shakers and we almost expect them. i think in your area, that is newsworthy in itself. >> personally, you guys can have them. >> jeff, keeping that sense of humor despite also having wildfires in the area. much luck to you. please do stay safe, from

mountain view barbecue in walker, california. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. we do want to bring in sandhya patel joining spencer christian in the weather center with more on the conditions surrounding this earthquake. >> let's take a look at this earthquake right now. i felted in the weather office here in san francisco and it was definitely a jolt. at 3:49 it was a magnitude 5.9 earthquake. the depth was about six miles, as you can see here. i will get you in a little bit closer, so you can kind of see where we are at and how many more aftershocks there were. that was the 5.9. there was a 4.2 at 3:59. there was another one at 4:11 of 3.6. so there were multiple earthquakes. obviously there was shaking going on around the state of california around the same time. there was one at 3:50, and that

was about 4.8, just south of the walker earthquake. obviously there have been some aftershocks. the 5.9 earthquake south- southwest of smith valley. the indications are that it had some widespread intensity. it was felt in other parts of the state. i am actually working on trying to get that for you, but basically going back to the graphic here, as we take a look, 5.9 earthquake that struck. it was a depth of six miles at 3:49 this afternoon. now i know the obvious question sometimes is, okay, so what are we talking about? that 5.9 earthquake. take a look at the earthquake magnitudes. when you have something in the five category, that is moderate, usually. some property damage can occur and it is about 1500 per year. this was a 5.9. there was a 6.2 earthquake as

well, west northwest of walker. multiple earthquakes. a 6 is a strong earthquake. it was felt around the state and certainly in san francisco. i know some are asking which fault was this on? as of right now, none of the faults in the bay area were part of it that i know of. basically taking a look at some of our faults and when we take a look, let's go back one second. the fault that this occurred on was obviously out toward the other side of california. so it was further out, near the nevada border. once again, 5.9 and a 6.2 earthquake. at this point it is hard to say exactly what fault that was on. we will wait for geologist to discuss it, but this one was at 3:49 this afternoon. there was another one felt in the area as well and these were some of the aftershocks. 3.6.

we will continue to monitor this and let you know if we hear of any others. this was the latest from the usgs. the initial earthquake was 4.2 and a second one of 5.9, west northwest of walker and a third one, 6.2. the largest so far was 6.2 near walker. felt in the bay area. i know people are talking about it on social media, as well. we will keep you posted. moments ago we spoke with someone who has a restaurant in walker, which is pretty much in the middle of the nevada quake on the one happened in california. he is dealing with, right now, minor damage. a good thing in this case, because of the given magnitude, we have not experienced anything nearly as severe as this could be. >> and they don't have reports of any sizable, significant damage or even much in terms of minor damage, although in the

immediate areas, closer areas, you will have things like that, things that fall off shelves. we do expect to see that, given that it was a 5.9 in smith valley, nevada. i was curious, looking up that area. your thinking, do they have a lot of faultlines there? they do. the sierra nevada range does have ones that we are not familiar with by name. it is also still a seismic hazard zone. i know we do not typically think of that in the bay area, because we think this is where the action is at, but as this proves, they do experience them as well. sally rosen is also joining us by phone right now, coming to us from which city? >> walker. >> are you in walker, as well? >> walker, california, yes. >> sally, you own a burger restaurant there. can you explain if you were there at the time of this earthquake?

>> yeah, we have a house right behind the restaurant and my 2- year-old was actually napping in my arms at the moment and we felt the shaking of the building. we didn't know what it was at first, if it was just vibrations, because we are near the highway. it kept going and it was pretty intense and scary, frankly. we ran out of the house as fast as we could with my 2-year-old and ran to the restaurant, because the first thought was oh my goodness, we need to shut off the gas. so we ran up there and still had lots of orders. everyone was pretty shaken outside. cups and things fell off the shelves. we had a lot of oil splatter from the friars and from our waste bin. we have to clean that up. we are still, right now, cleaning up things falling from the fridges and freezers, falling out and breaking on the

floor. quite a mess, in addition to being quite scary. we did see, right when i came out of the house, you could see dust, probably from one of those faultlines. i'm not super familiar myself, even though i have lived here my whole life. we have dust all the way down across behind meadow cliff resort. so that, we thought was either a plane crash or an earthquake and it sounds like an earthquake. >> you cannot see this right now, but on our screen we are showing some of the aftershocks on the map in the general vicinity of where you happen to be. we are looking at at least 10 aftershocks. undoubtedly you have been going through that experience on top of the dramatic experience of holding your baby and running to save anything at your restaurant. you are very lucky that people were not hurt in this incident. can you give me a sense of the

reaction from perhaps your staff or anyone nearby, people in your neighborhood? >> yeah, i am glad they were all outside when we got up year- end everyone is on the phone, making sure their families are okay and figuring out, if they had children, if their children are okay on that type of thing. we also had customers who are hungry, so once we figured out that our gas was okay and there was not any actual damage, we got back to cooking. but even now, everybody is a little shaken and we are still feeling those aftershocks. so that is pretty unsettling, because you never know what will happen. we just had our big fire here in november. we lost our house. i think a lot of people are still pretty shaken from the unpredictable environment we are in right now. so, pretty crazy stuff. >> gosh, you have been through

so much and i hate to take up more of your time, but if you do feel safe, are you in a position to share with our viewers a few photos? if you want to share that with us, we would be happy to see them, to know what it has been like for you. have you had a chance to examine, structurally, if there is anything you can notice that has been damaged in the building? any cracks or pavement, foundation things or windows that might have cracked, anything like that? >> i have not come across anything like that yet. we have sediment in the water, so we are flushing that out. i have not been back down to my house to see if my house has any damage, but the restaurant, from what i can tell, the last half hour or so, i have not noticed anything. >> and you did get the gas off, right? you're not smelling gas right now? >> no, definitely not.

>> that is such a good reminder to all of us in earthquake country to know exactly where to go and get out and shut off that gas and you did the right thing. i hope you had your shoes on or near you. they always say have the shoes nearby. >> we did not and after it stopped, we ran back in and got our shoes and came back up. i did not let go of my 2-year- old, so that was the scariest. i am also five months pregnant, too, so it was kind of scary. like, oh my goodness. >> i have to ask you, what you went through and similar to jeff once the barbecue restaurant also in the city of walker, where you are. he also mentioned the fire and here you are in such good spirits still on the phone with us, recounting the turn of events and the resilience of not only you, but people in

your neighborhood. why is that? how can you stay so upbeat and positive during all of this? >> i don't know for sure. it is one of those things. the way i think of it, you have a choice. you could not handle it or you could try to make the best out of it and i think it is more enjoyable if you try to make the best out of it. you know, life is short and you have to make with it what you have. our community has been wonderful with the support they have provided to all of the fire victims and you know, my philosophy with the business is we do something small, we make burgers and ice cream. if we can try to help people have a good day, even if it is just for their meal, that makes a little difference in the grand scheme of things. if everybody does a little bit, it all adds up.

that is my philosophy. as a business owner. i guess it bleeds into life, too. >> a really great way to live your life and i think it certainly helps that attitude for the people around you during this time of panic. do you know anything else about the rockslides? i know it is pretty close, the turnaround place and the closure on 89. and what was it, was it 395? the routes near you. folks might need a burger. i don't know if they are stuck or anything. sometimes these things cause big backups. what is the situation, do you know? >> all i know is i heard and saw sirens go past us toward bridgeport, which is south of us. i have not heard formally that there was a rockslide. i have heard anecdotally, so maybe it sounds like you know more than i do at this point. traffic on the road is still

fairly busy in both directions. but you know, you never know, maybe we will start to see, getting more first-hand report soon of people getting turned around. >> sally rosen of walker berger in walker, california, we appreciate you taking the time during a situation such as this. best of luck to you. stay safe and thank you again. >> go take care of that baby. thank you for giving as part of your time. >> no problem, bye-bye. >> on the right side of your screen you see sky 7 on the way to that earthquake. to get a sense of any damage. we also have spencer christian standing by with a look at the commission surrounding around what happened this afternoon. >> it is interesting to see the descriptions of what people felt in the same area. we talked about earlier how the intensity you feel can depend on the soil your building is

situated on or the floor you are on in the same building. for example, we were in the studio and felt nothing and a few feet away people in the control room or upstairs felt the shaking. we don't have updated information on reports in the bay area, however, i will take you back over to the epicenter of the quake and as you know it was officially 5.9 magnitude. the depth, six miles. the shaking was felt far, far away from the center of the quake, including in the bay area. even people closer can have different experiences of what they feel from a quake like that. if you are driving in your car on the highway, you may not feel anything at all. whereas people standing on the ground feel the intense shaking. that was my experience. i was here and felt shaking, because i was in the building, but people driving on 101 on their way to the ballpark did not feel anything at all. we are still waiting for more

reports on people closer to the quake, on whether there is any damage, items broken in homes. animal behavior, which can be very strange during a quake, because obviously they do not know what is going on. no new information at the moment in terms of aftershocks, other than what we already reported over at the news desk, on the anchor desk. >> spencer, interesting you talked about how you feel an earthquake and experience it. it has so much to do with where you are. i know when another quake happened i was out door and felt it strongly and i felt the waves slashing out of the pool. it was that big. my husband was in the car at the time and was making a right turn. he felt nothing. he thought maybe he popped attire. got out, looked, saw nothing. thought that was strange.

got back in the car and kept driving. gets to his destination and sees everyone sitting outside of the building. he was like, what is everyone doing? they looked at him like he was mad, like did you not experience that earthquake? >> it just goes to show it depends on where you are. >> you have to wonder how you could not feel it. i was on the 19th floor of what we used to call the st. francis hotel what happened. i thought the building would collapse, that is how violent and turbulent the shaking was. i spoke to a friend later who was driving to the airport and did not feel anything. she felt a little bump. >> driving is the best place to be as long as you are not near rockslides. you can mess the whole experience. and what you said about where you are, 19th floor, you can feel it more severely. you were on the first floor and did not feel it. i was on the second floor for this one and felt the shaking. >> and others saying they were in large buildings on the 19th

floor and feeling it sway entirely, so it really depends on where you happen to be. i do want to take a moment right now to mention something that has just come in from one of our producers. to clarify, per pg&e, apparently we had a call come into the station. avoid turning off your homes gas without a clear sign it is leaking, because depending on how many customers are without gas service, it may take an extended time for pg&e to turn gas back on. really a good word of advice for anyone perhaps wondering what should we do in this situation. >> so if you do not smell the leak, do not do that. especially in the bay area right now, we are sufficiently far from the epicenter. they tell us it was the smith valley one. the farmington 1/32 later has been taken off of the usgs website. i think they are no longer considering that a separate quake, but really it was the waves and shaking felt from the smith valley quake which

happened this morning, registering 5.9. in rural nevada, just across the california border. in that area, even though they do get quakes, certainly this is an eye-opener. certainly this is much bigger than what they are accustomed to. certainly an anomaly and certainly got a lot of people talking, because many of us in the bay area felted as well. >> moments ago we spoke to two residents of walker. you see that on your screen right now in the center. not far from smith valley and about three hours or so east of sacramento. those business owners both owned restaurants and explained in great detail what it was like for them to go through this earthquake, especially after about six or seven months after wildfires devastated that community. one business owner, a woman clutching her 2-year-old child and also five months pregnant at the time. fleeing her home, just feet

away from her restaurant, barefoot, trying to save it. trying to keep things from falling off the shelves. it is those moments of panic where people have sprung into action and it has been interesting to hear the resilience coming out of that particular town. >> right now, joining us with more personal experiences someone no stranger to abc7 news. kevin cooper coupe. those of you who have watched us for years now he has the ski guy and has been in nevada forever. glad you joined us. you felt it big time, right? >> i am in carson city right now at the junction. >> o, tahoe city, i'm sorry. >> it was probably one of the biggest jolts i have felt in quite some time. it literally shook from side to side. took two or three seconds and then the second jolt came

through. definitely an impressive hit for tahoe. i have not felt them like that here before. they are usually quick and fast. this was slow and steady. >> have to ask, normally if this were the winter, toing ski lifts and checking the equipment. it is summer right now, so i but based on everything you know when you get a shaker of the size, what will happen up there? >> there are some. the trams are running. down on the south shore. so they definitely have to stop and take a look and run a line checkup and out to make sure none of the cables have jumped. they are very safe. those things are inspected all the time, but they definitely have to go through the safety inspection. the other piece of this was looking out over the lake and we saw a roller go from the north to the south. so if you are on a surfboard

about 20 minutes ago you might have caught a good wave. >> are you serious? is that what you are thinking about right now? wow. i can imagine, but all around you what are you noticing? i remember experiencing a sudden quiet in the world. are you getting that or are there a lot of car alarms going off and noise? >> there is a lot, because of the fire danger in the region. it was very still. i had the door open in the shop and it was very still before it hit and then after there was stillness. yes, that was a shaker in lake tahoe, for sure. >> so brief stillness and then a lot more hubbub around you. can you describe what it has been like? have you heard reports of others and what they were doing at the time? >> i have not heard more reports. i have been kind of staring at

the lake. definitely it was a shaker. >> all right. hey, coupe, it is always great talking with you. you are always full of information. does this make you want to come back down to the bay area? you thought you were up there and you won't get as much shaking, but look at that now, right? >> for sure. you guys have a wonderful day. enjoy. >> thanks so much. kevin cooper in tahoe city, felt it big time. >> a little bit of feedback there. it runs the gamut, what people have felt, where they happen to be on the way they have i guess internalized what is going on around them. he has been through this, clearly, and is taking it in stride. i think it is interesting what he said about the rollers. >> in the lake, the water? >> yeah, and what that must've been like. >> it's interesting on the grand scale, because i

mentioned i saw water sloshing out of the pool. i am trying to picture that on a lake level. that is some shaking. >> and what tourists must think. >> it is a very popular time to be up there right now. >> enjoying the summer time and then opening the doors are getting to the lake and seeing that. >> right and again this could have traffic impact. already we know routes where they have rockslides. those do not seem to be in the immediate tahoe area, so if you're heading to tahoe you should be okay, but certainly folks vacationing up there, not expecting that kind of jolt today. just before 4:00, 10 minutes before, there was a 5.9 quake in smith valley, across the california border. a rural area, thankfully. that is a big quake. >> it is and we want to remind everyone that we do have sky 7 launched, on route to different parts of the bay area.

right now, just learning, getting an idea of the landscape, surveying if there has been widespread damage. >> it is super helpful. it is heading east, but as you know, smith valley is much further east. a few hundred miles further, but also in farmington they felt it quite a bit, as well. >> i would like to remind everyone that if you have pictures of damage, we know there have been videos of shaking and light fixtures. >> in daly city. >> really anywhere in the area and beyond, please share those with us. we will try to live-stream them for you as we speak. okay, this may be a dumb question, but i will ask this of spencer christian. when you have quakes close to the ocean or coast, sometimes you worry about a synonymy. when you have one inland like this by several hundred miles,

is that a concern or no? >> it is always a concern if it is a major quake, but generally speaking, the chance of a tsunami is greater if the epicenter is closer to the ocean or in the ocean floor, because inland like this is a muchssily but it worth raisg th question another question that is inevitably going to be raised now, because of this severe heat wave, is once again people are asking is there such a thing as earthquake weather? anecdotally, people give accounts of having experienced earthquakes when we had warmer than usual weather. we are certainly in a warmer than usual weather pattern right now, but i have talked to numerous geologists and seismologists about this and of course people in the fields that i work in, meteorology and climatology and so far there has been no scientific connection established between hot weather and earthquakes.

that does not mean it does not exist. we are still exploring it, but it has not been determined yet. >> spencer, i'm glad you mentioned and i'm glad you asked about the tsunami's, because the news cannot today that state geologists basically say a once-in-a-lifetime tsunami could somethg called hazard maps from san francisco, also coming into the east bay. >> in fact we have a closer look at those new maps. >> reporter: state and local officials admit that a tsunami is not something the public wants to hear about after a long year of covid, but newly updated maps, as you mentioned, are highlighting danger that is very real. the bay area learned firsthand what the force of a tsunami can do when an earthquake in japan in 2011 sent strong waves into santa cruz harbor, leaving heavy damage. in 1964, a 9.2 earthquake in

alaska sent a tsunami which did heavy damage on the california coast and parts of the north bay. now state geologists are giving updated information about where a major synonymy could strike around the bay. new technology has allowed the california geological survey to update a tsunami hazard maps from 2009, with the perfect storm in mind. >> we are preparing for the worst case scenario, which is up to a 9.3 magnitude off of alaska. that would be the worst case we are looking at in san francisco. >> reporter: new maps shaded in yellow show the event could bring tsunami waves into parts of east oakland. along san francisco's waterfront, it could be bad. it was first thought waves from a synonymy would come about this far, where i am standing not far from the embarcadero. new maps tell a different story. check it out, sky 7 with sky map technology show how far the water could come, well into the financial district and almost as far as fremont street.

tsunami waves could also reach parts of north beach and fisherman's wharf. >> going to be that large, but there is still a potential for 2 to 3 feet of tsunami flow depths to knock people down and injure them. >> reporter: the city already has tsunami evacuation routes posted, but many will have to be updated. many say the threat of the tsunami is not something they can deal with right now. >> i will read a little bit more about it, but i will not live in fear. we just went through a horrendous year and we live in earthquake country. >> reporter: officials say you don't need to know your evacuation route if you live near the water. simply move away from the coast. officials do say that it could be, well, it is very unlikely that a synonymy would happen, but have a plan and sign up for emergency alerts where you live. live in san francisco, cornell barnard, abc7 news.

>> good advice at this time. before you go, i have to ask you, were you on the roof at the time of this quake? >> reporter: i was making my way up to the roof in a very long stairwell. i did not feel the earthquake, but i do have a few updates. my mom who lives in a hollow area near the marina in san francisco, she did feel it. she said it was three seconds, a quick jolt. it got her attention. and i got a text from a former videographer, rachel mosley, she now lives in the reno area and said she definitely felt it. it was very scary. her husband works in the carson city area. it was strong enough that he fell down. it knocked him to the ground. everyone is assessing the damage in that area. in the carson city, minden, nevada area. a big quake that got a lot of

attention and in her case, her husband was knocked to the ground. >> i hope he's doing okay. i know he works with his hands and works outside a lot, so who knows what tools can be around. we appreciate that update, cornell. >> interesting, too, that you did not feel it in the stairwell. if you are in motion, that may reduce your perception of the shaking on the ground. thank you for that information. let's transition to gardnerville. we have a woman named margie witt on the phone, originally from the bay area. margie, thank you for taking the time. tell us where you were in the circumstances around you during this earthquake. >> hello? >> hi there, can you hear us? >> i can hear you now. >> glad, you are joining us right now. you are from the bay area, so you are familiar with earthquakes, but can you tell me what it was like where you are?

>> sorry, i am getting a little feedback, but it was very strong. nothing that i have seen in the bay area to that degree in a number of years, probably since 1989, so it was very strong. the house was shaking, but the interesting part of it is that it lasted probably 15 to 20 seconds. it just was not stopping. shortly thereafter we got a very strong aftershock and at that point my husband and i said, maybe we should get out of the house. anyway, everything is fine. gardnerville is a very rural area. i have not seen any damage. our house is fine. >> i was going to ask, how far away is gardnerville from smith valley, nevada, which we know

is the epicenter? >> right, it is right at the foothills of the sierras, 20 minutes south of south lake tahoe. smith valley is southeast of us. so i would say, probably, maybe 30 minutes away. >> so you do not detect or see damage in your home. do you even have things that fell off the shelves or things like that? >> no, nothing fell off the shelf. i was surprised. i think of it lasted longer we would have probably seen more, but it was definitely a continuous rolling and jolting. we have experienced, in the bay area, those fast and hard jolts, but this was lingering. that was the one thing that concerned us the most after living through many earthquakes. >> you mentioned 1989 so i know you are here for loma prieta. i imagine even though you moved you probably do things

like earthquake proof your house. do you anchor bookshelves and things like that to the wall? have you done that? >> we recently purchased this house here, so no, we haven't. >> but you will now. >> now that we realize we can have these types of earthquakes in this area, we will definitely be looking to do that. >> margie, i want you to hang on with us for one second. what you are seeing on the right-hand side of your screen, this is the video we referenced moments ago coming out of daly city, where you see that light fixture swaying back and forth. this is coming from damon chan, many thanks to you for letting us use this video and show it. it really runs the gamut of what people have experienced and seen. margie lives quite close to the epicenter in comparison, but did not have damage whatsoever and then you have folks smack dab in the middle of the two different quakes, one in california and one on the nevada side in smith valley,

who had johnny walker bottles falling off the shelves. so it is quite a difference. margie, many thanks to you. we have to go to our next guest, but thank you for taking the time. >> my pleasure. >> we do want to find out more about rockslides and things on we know that caltrans has been busy. we have a spokeswoman with caltrans joining us right now by phone and we do appreciate your time. i should introduce you fully, my apologies. christine nadler and you represent district 9. tell us what happened on the roadways. we heard reports of rockslides. give us the picture there. >> absolutely. so we closed u.s. highway 395 at bridgeport to the nevada state line. there is a canyon through there, walker canyon, which has had several rockslides and there are several campgrounds up there.

we also have slides on state route 88 and 89 and all of our maintenance crews are out and deployed, looking to see what the damage is and if anybody needs assistance and how quickly they can get the boulders off the sides of the road. >> this is a very large undertaking to actually move these boulders and undoubtedly it will take time. you have any idea of delays and also if anyone has been injured by any of the falling rock? >> sure, no, we are diverting traffic heading northbound on 395 to state route 182, just out of bridgeport. that will take them through the western side of nevada to rejoin 395, further north. we have not been able to see what kind of damage has happened as our crews are rolling, but are not there yet. i am sure they will have some difficulty getting around the rocks in the roadway right now. >> you mentioned campgrounds or campsites, i think i heard.

we know if all of the campers are okay? >> that is something that we do not know yet. you know, often times in walker canyon you do not have cell service, so it makes it a little bit harder for us to get communication from people that are in there, but we do have a lot of rock falls surrounding chris flat campground. >> what is it called, chris flat? >> yeah, at the southern end of walker canyon, north of bridgeport. and then the meadows on the state route was reported to me. >> can you give us an idea of what tackling something like this is like for your crews? do they get on scene and assess the situation? what are the processes involved here? >> the first thing they do is they had out any major damage, which rock fall is first and

foremost. we have crews up and down the eastern sierra area and we deployed our crew to check the local bridges and state highway structures. and they reported that there is no major damage there, so that is good. our crews out of bridgeport, sonora, and walker have to kind of maneuver their way around the rock. these are two lane highways. it can be a challenge. they need to get the heavy equipment out there. so, yeah, it can take some time. >> christine when you mention 88 and 89, people from the bay area think am i not able to drive up to saw tahoe from the southern route? what are you telling people right now? >> if you are headed to tahoe, i would say check quick map.

it is a caltrans website you can get current highway information on and it will show which roads are open and which are closed, so you can likely go state route 50, but i do not have information on 50 right now, that is out of my district. but currently i have not heard anything reported there. again, quick map is a mobile app or you can check it on your laptop and it will give you what roads are closed and which roads are open. >> all right, and look, in california when we have a rockslide, for example highway 1 along the coast in the big sur area, that can cut off a whole community, especially if that is the one route. do you foresee that is a possibility with these rockslides or do you think, you know, they are not that devastating or that extensive? that massive in scale, that that could happen. >> well, we actually do have a

lot. it is hard to say, is the easiest way to explain it. but we do have large boulders that land on the state highway system in this area. this is the same canyon that had the avalanche last winter. so you know, the roadsides and hillsides, you know, they are steep and have a lot of rocks on them. we continually monitor them, have geologists monitoring them all the time for different kinds of weather, but in the case of an earthquake it is more shocking and i think we will not know until we see, but we do have a crew that has military grade explosives on their vehicles, so they can move those boulders, no matter how big they are. they can work on getting them out of the way. they have the ability to do that. >> certainly a big job ahead. caltrans spokeswoman christine nadler joining us live on the phone as we speak, discussing

the smith valley, nevada earthquake, a situation we will continue monitoring throughout the evening. >> will take a short break. that ends

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t alelief withtyx. watch me! feel real relief. ask your rheumatologist about cosentyx. now, from abc7, live breaking news. good evening. thanks for joining us. >> you are watching abc7 news at 5:00, live here on abc7, hulu live, and wherever you happen to stream. we continue to breaking news coverage of the 5.9 earthquake near smith valley, nevada, which could be felt all across the region, including here in the bay area. >> it happened around 3:50, more than an hour ago. again, this is south of lake tahoe, just east of the california/nevada border. let's give you a look at our seismograph. here you go. here is a visual reflection of n

the shaking. several aftershocks followed right after, and at this point, we