A magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck near Ojai on Sunday, rattling the larger Southern California region as residents were dealing with intense rains from Tropical Storm Hilary.
The temblor was felt across Southern California and hit at 2:41 p.m.
Scott Thomsen, Ventura County Fire director of communications, said the department immediately implemented its earthquake plan that involves getting the trucks out of the firehouses. He said “so far we have no reports of damage but we are checking.”
He noted the quake came just as officials were bracing for Tropical Storm Hilary.
“We are in the middle of the first tropical storm since 1939, and we just had an earthquake,” he said.
Earthquake scientists were quick to say Sunday’s earthquake has nothing to do with the arrival of Hilary.
An aerial inspection by Ventura County helicopter of Lake Casitas Dam, Matilija Dam and the City of Ojai revealed no issues to report.
Damage was pretty minimal at the Ojai Beverage Co., on Ojai Avenue, said manager Nick Howard.
With the exception of a $900 bottle of tequila and a few wine bottles, the shop lost very little in terms of product. Photos of the shop show walls and shelves lined with glass bottles.
Howard said he didn’t have the time or wherewithal when the shaking began to think about the pricey tequila bottle. “Wish I had,” he said.
Patty McFall at OVA Arts, a well known art gallery regarded for local artists, said, “We had some damage. We had some pieces fall. Three or four pieces broke. Others are OK on the floor.” McFall, a sculptor and jeweler, said given the shaking, they got lucky with some pieces surviving a tumble in the Arcada Plaza that is in the heart of Ojai.
Franz Lidz, a journalist living in Ojai, said the quake came with a calamitous sound of things falling and glass shattering. “It was short, loud and violent. The whole house shook as if a Mack truck had crashed into it,” he wrote in a text to The Times.
“Bernice, one of the family dogs, felt it first,” he added. “She knew instantly that something was terribly wrong. My wife Maggie and I were slower on the uptake, though we realized pretty quickly – 15 seconds? – that we were in the middle of an earthquake.
“Luckily, the people are fine, our neighbors seem to be fine, the new car in our garage is fine, and Bernice, one of our seven-year-old mini-schnauzers, is nearly fine. A half-hour later she’s still shaking, panting and cowering on Maggie’s lap. Naturally, Leavin’, her chill buddy, has already fallen asleep.”
Ventura County Fire is asking property owners near the epicenter to survey their structures for damage.
The area of greatest shaking was in Ojai. The shaking intensity there was considered moderate based on the Modified Mercalli Intensity scale, according to calculations by the U.S. Geological Survey. That’s enough to break windows, overturn unstable objects and stop pendulum clocks.
Ventura, Oxnard and Camarillo likely felt light shaking as defined by the Modified Mercalli Intensity scale. That’s strong enough to rattle dishes and windows and can feel like a truck hitting a building.
The quake was centered four miles southeast of Ojai and 10 miles northeast of Ventura in a remote area of Sulphar Mountain. That is 60 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles.
Ventura County officials said the quake occurred along the Sisar fault system.
Seismologist Lucy Jones said on social media that Sunday’s Ventura County earthquake was preceded by a small foreshock sequence, the largest of which was magnitude 2.5, that began Saturday morning.
The quake has been followed by several aftershocks.
Southern California residents described receiving an earthquake early warning on their cellphone’s MyShake app before feeling the shaking. One person described getting seven seconds of warning.
