RIO DELL, Calif.: A powerful 6.4-magnitude earthquake hit California's far north coast before dawn on Tuesday, destroying homes and roads, disconnecting utility lines, and cutting off water and electricity for thousands of residents. rice field.

At least 12 people were injured and two died in a "medical emergency" during or immediately after the quake, according to the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office.

The quake occurred at 2:30 a.m. Pacific time and was followed by about 80 aftershocks. The epicenter was 350 kilometers north of San Francisco off the coast of Humboldt County, a large rural area known for its redwood forests, seafood, and wine. local, timber, and dairy farms.

The area is also known for its relatively frequent seismic activity, although the latest quake appears to have caused more disruption than others in recent years.

Authorities said Tuesday's quake caused a structural fire by cutting off gas lines to a water heater - and caused at least two other buildings to collapse. According to firefighters, the fire was quickly extinguished, and firefighters were able to rescue a resident who was briefly trapped inside the house.

About two dozen homes were damaged so badly that they were "labeled red", declared unsanitary. Most were in Rio Dell, a town of about 3,400 people that was hard hit by the quake.

Water service to the entire community was knocked out, and City Manager Kyle Knopp said he expected 100 to 150 residents would likely end up displaced once housing inspectors had assessed all the structural damage there.

Some 79,000 homes and businesses countywide were without power in the quake's immediate aftermath, according to the electric grid tracking website Power Outage.us.

Jacqui McIntosh, 28, whose home in Rio Dell was shaken to the foundation, said she and her husband, Shane, were pulled out of bed and huddled under the bed until the shaking stopped.

"And then when we ran out of the house... you could smell gas everywhere," she said. "Our water was cut off, so water was everywhere." "I just remember coming out of the house and seeing, for example, a house on the ground near our porch."

Another Rio Dell resident, Liz Peavy, 68, said she was also awakened when her house began to shake. “And it just kept shaking, and everything was falling apart,” she recalls. "The TV fell off, the microwave, everything, like all my little jewels scattered all over the place."

Fire officials said dispatchers responded to about 70 emergency calls after the quake.

Details about the victims are sketchy. "Two deaths were of people, one 72 years old and the other 83 years old, who had to undergo medical emergencies that coincided with the earthquake, making it impossible for rescue teams to reach them in time to come up with methods of treatment," Humboldt County Sheriff William Honsal said.

Most of the 12 survivors known to have sought medical attention went to the hospital with relatively minor injuries, many from falling objects. Two of the most serious cases were head injuries and hip fractures, officials said.

Police closed a bridge over the River Eel just outside Ferndale, a quaint town known for its shopfronts and gingerbread Victorian homes, after four large cracks were discovered in the tree. The California Highway Patrol also said the pavement platform is at risk of slipping.

Authorities reported that at least four roads in Humboldt County were closed due to earthquake damage.

Daniel Holsapple, 33, of nearby Arcata, said: 'The shaking was really intense." He hugged his cat and ran outside after being woken in total darkness by the movement of the house and by an emergency alert from his mobile phone. .

"We couldn't see what was happening. "It's just the feeling and the general rumble of the foundations of the whole house shaking," he said.

State emergencies director Mark Ghilarducci said the California Earthquake Early Warning System sent an electronic alert to the mobile devices of about 3 million Northern California residents 10 seconds before the quake. first happened.

Although earthquakes are common in California, tremors of magnitude 6.4 are less frequent and potentially dangerous.

Cynthia Pridmore, a senior geologist with the California Geological Survey, said Tuesday's quake hit a seismically active area where many tectonic plates converge on the seafloor about 2 miles from the coast. miles away, in an area that has produced about 40 earthquakes of magnitude 6–7 in the last century. Survey.

"It is not uncommon for earthquakes of this magnitude to occur in this area," she told a news conference. The United States Geological Survey reported that tremors from Tuesday's earthquake were felt far away in the San Francisco Bay Area. The largest aftershock recorded was 4.6 magnitude.