A series of moderate earthquakes struck off the coast of Vancouver Island on Wednesday afternoon. Thousands of earthquake occur in British Columbia every year, but only a small fraction have a magnitude of 3.0 and over. There is no Tsunami expected and no reports of any damage.
The first quake of the series, a magnitude 4.1 seismic event, was reported at 2:53 pm PT with an epicentre located 344 km west-northwest of Tofino – in an area on the Explorer Plate, between two major ocean fault lines.
The largest was a M4.8 quake registered at 4:34 p.m. at a depth of 10-kilometers some 188 kilometers west of Port Hardy.
Not too long afterward, a third one struck at 4:54 p.m. Earthquakes Canada measured it as a 4.0-magnitude quake, at a depth of 10 kilometres (6 miles) and was 183 kilometres (134 miles) west of Port Hardy.
On February 10, 2019, another M4.3 earthquake was reported at the same place at 4:02 pm PT… Again at a shallow depth of 10 km.
In central regions of Chile, a curfew has been imposed due to forest fires going out-of-control in urban areas. The Chilean has already killed 2 last week. Two days ago, 5 fires have started simulteneously and are now threatening buildings in Penco and San Pedro de la Paz. Residents had to flee the flames. Regional authorities suspect arson as the cause of the fire and have introduced a curfew from 11:00pm to 7:00am in 10 provincial communes.
Winter Storm Nadia continued to slam the Pacific Northwest and Northern California with heavy snow and rain Wednesday, causing multiple crashes and road closures, widespread flooding, travel woes, mudslides and debris flows, leaving tens of thousands without power in California.
The California city of Redding, which sees snow about once every other year, received more than a foot of new snow from Nadia, effectively shutting down the city of nearly 100,000. Roads were impassable and much of the city’s homes and businesses lost power as inches of heavy snow weighed down power lines.
A woman was rescued from her Sausalito home Thursday after it slid down a hillside and crashed into another one. The woman was reportedly “pinned within the debris in her home” and was “encased in mud.”
The incident prompted officials to evacuate 50 homes in the vicinity because of the risk of more slides and possible broken gas lines and downed power lines.
In Southern California, mandatory “must go now” evacuations were ordered at the burn site of the Holy Fire in Riverside County, including hundreds of Lake Elsinore residents. Voluntary evacuations were also ordered near the Cranston Fire burn site in Riverside County.
There have been at least 78 reports of debris flows or flooding in California since the storm began on Tuesday.
Northern California
The storm brought strong winds to the Bay Area, and at San Francisco International Airport, delays exceeded three hours on Wednesday. At least 17 flights have already been canceled for Thursday.
Flooding, along with water rescues, was reported in the Bay Area along and west of Highway 116 in Sonoma County. To the south, additional water rescues occurred along flooded roads, and at Pebble Beach, winds blew a large tree onto a vehicle at the front gate.
The risk of mudslides prompted Caltrans to close Highway 1 south of Big Sur as a precautionary measure. High winds knocking down power lines and flooding forced numerous other road closures throughout the state on Wednesday.
The California Highway Patrol told traffic accidents and other problems in Oakland, San Francisco, San Jose and Santa Rosa were being reported at a rate of more than one per minute on Wednesday.
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