Southern California was hit by its largest earthquake in two decades Thursday, with the 6.4-magnitude temblor sp🍎arking house fires, teariꦅng apart roads and injuring residents.
The quake struck in the Mojave Desert near the city of Ridgecrest at around 10:30 a.m., sending treꦜmors 150 miles northeast to Los Angeles and causing aftershocks that were expected to continue for days.
A state of emergency was declared in Ridgecrest due to the ongoing shocks, the city’s m📖a💯yor, Peggy Breeden, .
“Oh, my goodness, there’s another ꦰ[quake] right now,” Breeden said live on air as one hit🍷.
There were no immediate reports of deaths, but multiple people in Ridgecrest suffered minor injuries — mostly from broken glass and falling grocery store🤪 shelves — while several house fires were reported, according to Kern County Fire Chief David Witt.
Photos posted to social media showed stores with products strewn on the floor and lar༺ge cracks bﷺisecting roadways.
“It almost gave me a heart attack,” said Cora Burke, a waiജtress at Midway C༺afe in Ridgecrest.
“It’s just a rolling feeling inside the building, inside the cafe, and all of a sudden everything started falling off the shelf, glasses, the refrigerator and everything 𒁃in the small refrigerator💮 fell over.”
By 1:15 p.m., more than 100 shocks of 2.5 magnitude or greater had been recorded, including🅷 a 4.5-magnitude temblor, the US Geological Survey sa🎉id.
The agency warned that there was a♔ 20% chance of a shock of magnitude 6 or higher hitting over the next week and a 9% chance of one or more larger than 6.4.
The quake was the largeཧst in Southern Californ👍ia since the 7.1-magnitude Hector Mine quake at the Twentynine Palms Marine Corps Base in 1999,
The 6.6-magnitude Northridge quake in 1994 killed dozens and caused billions of dollars i𝓰n damage, but that disaster struck in the center of a populated area, while Thursday’s was located far from metropolitan LA.
St🐭ill, many Hollywood figures took to Twitter to sh🔴are their earth-shaking experiences.
“I 🃏was like . . . Do I roll out of bed and get to the doorway? I’m from N❀ew York, I can’t handle this!” .
Meanwhile, “Selma” director : “Been living in Los Angeles all my life. That was tꦺhe longest earthquake I’ve🎃 ever experienced. Not jerky. Smooth and rolling. But it was loooong.”
Others on social media posted video of ocean-worthy🦂 waves in their outdoor swimming pools.
Additional reporting by Tamar Lapin and Post wires