RIO DELL, Calif. (AP) – Outside Dollar General, the store manager ticked off items to share with families trying to kickstart their lives after an earthquake dragged them from their beds and cut off the city’s water and electricity had.
“Batteries or candles?” a worker asked a woman carrying a toddler on her hip, handing the child a plastic candy cane filled with candy.
Just days before Christmas in Rio Dell, the former logging town was grappling with the aftermath of the 6.4-magnitude earthquake early Tuesday that injured at least 17 people, shook homes from foundations, damaged water systems and left tens of thousands without power, some for more than a year day.
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Power was restored to the homes of tens of thousands of residents on Wednesday afternoon, and Christmas lights wrapped around trees on the community’s main street came on again. However, most of the city’s 3,500 residents lacked clean drinking water, according to local officials.
Twenty-six homes were deemed unsafe, displacing an estimated 65 people, most of whom were expected to stay with family and friends, said Rio Dell city manager Kyle Knopp. Another 37 homes were damaged, and even those that showed no physical cracks required intensive cleaning inside, where the floors were littered with fallen shelves and broken crockery.
On Wednesday night, Pacific Gas & Electric said it had restored power to essentially all of its approximately 70,000 customers with earthquake-related outages.
Earthquakes are common along this stretch of coast in Northern California, and people talk about them in much the same way they talk about the weather. But the one who roused people from their homes was unlike many who were violently thrown from their beds and stumbled about in the dark of night seeking safety.
As his house began to shake, Chad Sovereign ran into his 10-year-old son Jaxon’s room, grabbed him and ducked under a door frame. The brick chimney collapsed, taking the wall with it, leaving a gaping hole in their home.
“It felt like the end of the world,” Sovereign said. “I told him I love him. I didn’t say goodbye to him, (but) in my head I did. I kept telling him, ‘I love you, I love you, I love you’.”
Sovereign said the family lost water and electricity after the quake, but thankfully they were able to stay in their home. They filled their bathtub with the water left over from before the shutdown and used it to flush the toilets.
The quake was concentrated in nearby Ferndale, about 210 miles (345 kilometers) northwest of San Francisco and near the Pacific coast. The area is known for its redwood forests, scenic mountains, and legendary marijuana crop of the three-county Emerald Triangle — as well as the Mendocino Triple Junction, a geological region where three tectonic plates meet.
On Wednesday, the community fire station was converted into a transit hub. Residents pulled up in their cars and had water loaded in their suitcases, while a local food truck, courtesy of World Central Kitchen, gave out tacos and burritos. Other volunteers set up folding tables and handed out apples, peaches, bagels and canned goods.
What was once a bustling logging town of shops in the 1970s is now a small, unassuming community of retirees, commuters, and renters. When a nearby mill went bankrupt and a major thoroughfare was laid, Rio Dell became a shadow of its former self, local residents said. But it remains a place where people know each other and when disaster strikes they can go to City Hall for advice on who can replace their broken windows – and get them.
Outside of Dollar General, store manager Cassondra Stoner said she was told she could distribute water, batteries and candles but withheld other items until they could be inspected — something she can’t always do.
“I couldn’t help but give someone some ibuprofen and some baby diapers because I’m not going to let a child go without diapers,” she said.
The Dollar General is Rio Dell’s premier grocery store, replacing an Old West-style miniature golf course. There’s also a hardware store and pizzeria in a town that used to have earthquakes that ripped things off shelves and damaged stores’ inventory, locals said, but rarely did so much to people’s homes and souls.
“If you’re complaining about a point less than 4 points, you’re a moron,” said Sharon Wolff, editor of the local news website, the Rio Dell Times. “We see news reports that this place has a 3.6, and it’s like, ‘Oh please.'”
Nearby Ferndale, which draws tourists to its quaint Victorian village, also lost power and a major bridge to the community was closed, but shopkeepers were hoping to bounce back quickly once the lights came back on, said Marc Daniels, Owner of Mind’s Eye Manufactory and coffee lounge.
“We know how bad it could have been,” said Daniels, whose shop is in a two-story Victorian building. “We feel like we kind of dodged a bullet this time.”
About 17 people were reported injured. Two people died — an 83-year-old and a 72-year-old — because they could not receive timely medical attention during or shortly after the quake.
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While more than half of Humboldt County’s 72,000 customers who lost power from the earthquake had regained power by Tuesday night, some went without power — and water — throughout the night. Boiling water alerts were issued for Rio Dell and parts of Fortuna due to damaged water systems. In Rio Dell, portable toilets have been installed downtown.
Celia Magdaleno, 67, said she lugged a container of water from her neighbor’s swimming pool home to flush the toilet. She said she took rainwater she caught in a barrel outside and heated it so her husband could bathe before his dialysis appointment.
Having access to water “means a lot,” she said. “This is a very great blessing for me.”
Nathan Scheinman, 24, said he snuggled under four blankets but could barely sleep due to the cold as the shock of the quake repeated in his head. He lost gas, water and electricity and had to drive to find a usable bathroom. Right now, Scheinman said he’s not thinking about vacations, but trying to help people who come to the hardware store, where he works with whatever he can in times of need.
“I think in the Christmas spirit, I want to be there for people as best I can,” he said.
