EARTHQUAKE RUMORS
9:48 p.m. - O.k., I’ve gotten a few phone calls from friends around town now. Here are some first-hand accounts, as well as second-hand rumors. Keep in mind, this IS Humboldt County, so don’t believe everything you hear (or read).
- - The Bayshore Mall in Eureka has a big crack in the parking lot that appeared during the earthquake. The same source tells me that there was quite a bit of damage inside the Mall from pieces of the ceiling falling. Much of The Bayshore Mall is built on top of what would best be described as “swamp land”, so I would imagine that it was hit far worse than the rest of town.
- - WinCo, the area’s largest supermarket, was shut down earlier, due to lack of electricity. This sent hundreds of potential customers fleeing to Safeway, which apparently still had power.
- - Downtown Eureka was totally in the dark for a number of hours. Local residents are scrambling to find anyplace open that sells fast food, since much of the town has been without power since the earthquake initially hit. Those who rely solely upon electricity to heat their homes, power their ovens and run their refrigerators are SOL. Most residents don’t have generators, although quite a number have access to natural gas for their stoves. There are also quite a number of residents with wood stoves and fireplaces.
- - Gas stations, the ones that have power at least, are doing a booming business. After an earthquake, everyone seems to rush out and buy gasoline for either their vehicles or generators. Fortunately, there are enough gas stations in town with power to not cause a panic.
- - Arcata goes dark, big-time. From what I’ve been told, power between Eureka and Arcata, including the City of Arcata itself, has been without power for hours. I got this report 1-2 hours ago, so it is possible that power has been restored to the town by now. Of course, most of Arcata’s electricity goes towards running grow lights for marijuana to begin with. If this continues, residents may be forced to grow their marijuana outdoors!
Tags: Arcata, earthquake, Eureka, Fortuna, Humboldt County, The Bayshore Mall, WinCo
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