'I got thrown against the wall': Lake Almanor residents clean up damage from earthquake, aftershock
fallen facade of a fireplace in Chimney now in a pile of rubble on the ground here at this home in Prattville. Residents tell me they've been cleaning up the damage from the earthquake. They've felt both of them and are bracing for another one saying you just never know. Suddenly the lights went out and I got thrown against the wall. Jim Pope felt that 5.5 magnitude earthquake while remodeling his basement bathroom in his Lake Almanor home in Prattville for about 10 seconds took me about 5 seconds to figure out what was going on. But about 10 seconds, I just covered my head and ducked into the bottom of the shower and waited it out when the shaking stopped.
The retired Napa firefighter immediately did a walkthrough assessing the damage looking for water and gas leaks. He didn't find any leaks, but he had a huge mess in his house. There was just glass everywhere. A little charge of glass. Um everything came out of the cupboards and I started walking through the bedrooms and every cabinet was turned over and emptied and every picture was turned sideways. It was just crazy. Then I'm like, Oh, it's not quite thinking it was a joke.
And then I'm like, Oh, beep. It is an earthquake. Oh my God. The first one we've ever experienced. Tracy and Iggy Samuel Smith experienced the jolt in Chester sitting in their hotel room while on vacation from London. I realized that the TV was shaking. My legs were shaking and the bed was shaking.
It was like, Okay. Um it was over too quick to be really scared about it. Yeah, because it was so quick. The British couple says they've checked feeling an earthquake off their bucket list twice. Now after this morning's aftershock, they say they'll always remember being rattled in Northern California. It's gone down in my diary. Big capital letters.
Earthquake. Been here a number of times. Never experienced an earthquake and Pope felt that 5.2 quake this morning as well and checked his home a second time. Fortunately, everything was already on the ground, so we didn't lose much more. The folks in Prattville say the frequency of the aftershocks have diminished quite a bit and I checked with area fire departments and they say the damage has been minimal and the other good news. There are zero reports of injuries.
Reporting in Prattville, Michelle Bandoer, KCRA.
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