Trona 4th of July Earthquake

[CrustyOldFart]

Biggest earthquake in 20 years rocks Southern California
There's a one in twenty chance of an even bigger quake in the next couple days.

[dilbert]

Well... well... well... That 6.4 earthquake wasn't so big and bad after all. Compared to the 7.1 that hit July 5th, it was rather meek and mild!
(Glad as hell that I'm not currently in the general area!!! Best of luck to all directly affected!)

[blackturtle.us]

I posted this at death-valley.net and I'll share it here also:

I had just started a running workout seconds before the quake hit here in Trona. I can tell you that the sensation of running during a strong quake is unlike anything I've ever experienced. The power went out, but miraculously it's back on as of about fifteen minutes ago. There have been dozens of aftershocks since the 7.1 quake.... all night long!

ARGUS PEAK: A fire started at about the 5000 foot level. (The peak is about 6500 feet.) How the fire started is a mystery. The only reasonable theory would be that two rocks hit and made a spark. Of course, there is an unreasonable theory: The base is said to have an underground facility beneath Argus Peak. It could be that the location of the fire coincides with a ventilation hole. Of course, this is a ridiculous theory, but rocks randomly hitting and causing a spark doesn't sound like something highly probable either!

[blackturtle.us]

Thanks to the 7.1 quake, this is what my chimney now looks like. Hopefully my earthquake insurance will come through and help out with this issue!

[CactusHugger]

Carole King - I feel the earth move
This earthquake has gotten me into the mood for a little rock n roll!

[surfsteve]

I'm glad the electricity is back on. Any news about the water? I have enough drinking water to last a while but it's starting to get hot in here with no water to run the swamp coolers!

Two untrue rumors I heard was that Argus mountain had collapsed along with the Trona T and that unit E-9 of the apartments did. Since I live in the other apartment complex virtually identical I was concerned and drove over right away to find it standing and in good order. I just got back from looking at the Trona T to find the same thing this morning.

Interesting to hear about a fire on Argus mountain though. I wouldn't doubt there is a secret military base there. I've been inside the Ruth mine and there are some pretty big caverns there. I imagine the ones inside Argus mountain must be huge because that peak could be a hundred times larger than the one covering the Ruth mine!

I knew instantly that this last quake was much stronger than the first big one. Instead of stuff falling off my shelves, the shelves themselves collapsed. Only the particle board shelves collapsed. I had some plastic ones and ones made of real wood that held up just fine. Lots of broken glass again. Though not as much as last time... because most of it already broke! 2 of my three lamps that fell over broke. When I ran outside during the quake my cars were bouncing up and down like they were talking to each other. Well I guess if you count the car alarms they actually were. I didn't actually see the tires leave the ground but at the time it seemed like it.

I can't wait for the water to come back on. My floor and everywhere is covered by dust and sticky soda an I was too busy cleaning yesterday to do laundry. I used a little of my precious drinking water this morning to wipe down my table and take a sponge bath but still feel sticky and my clothes are all covered with dust from bags that spilled when my shelves collapsed. I haven't had to do a number two yet but things are going to get pretty smelly if this continues much longer and we can't flush our toilets! The worse part is going to be the unbearable heat without water to run our swamp coolers. At times like this I wish I had air conditioning but they are too expensive to run.

[surfsteve]

I can only imagine what all the news crews think when they see all of the abandoned and collapsed buildings here in town. Every time I think about it, it makes me laugh. Little do they know our town looked pretty much like it does before the quake!

So much for the 5% chance of a bigger one happening. Who knew that it would be 100%?

So what are the chances that there will be another still even bigger one? It's gotta be more than 5%!

Seems really quiet this morning. I'm not noticing as many after shocks as I did after the first big one hit. I think most of it is due to the Plant being shut down. Normally it is making all kinds of noise. The stars were absolutely beautiful last night. Usually you can't see them due to all the lights from the plant!

I did notice one of the huge chimneys from the plant is partially collapsed and the top of it is leaning over. It reminds me of the ones you see in the Dr. Suess books, only this one is in real life! I'm glad none of the tanks holding toxic chemicals collapsed. I've heard rumors that if one of them did that we would all be dead. Hopefully they are just rumors. I did smell propane really strong last night and almost left town. Don't know where I would have gone. I imagine there were all kinds of rocks and boulders on the road and that we probably couldn't have made it to town and it would have been too risky to drive that road at night. Besides that I'll bet that every motel room in town is already full from the locals. I suppose if the road is not already open that it will be open soon.

I am seeing all kinds of helicopters flying all over the place. At the moment there is a CHP chopper flying over the plant. I think there were some news crews flying over earlier. Other than that I've never seen it this peaceful and quiet here in town. Underneath all the peace and quiet however lies the remnants of a disaster and the danger that things could become even much worse!

[surfsteve]

I just looked at Argus mountain and it's smoking. Heard it might be a volcano and that the whole town might have to be evacuated. Anyone know anything?

[surfsteve]

I probably shouldn't have said it was smoking. There was a little bit of black smoke coming from the mountain as if it had just started. Looked like maybe a brush fire but nothing like the amount of smoke you would expect from a volcano. I drove my truck around to load up some trash and 5 minutes later it was all gone.

Seems very peculiar to be smoking like that. Other than an underground base; what could possibly cause a small fire like that? A volcano is a possibility but that would be the unthinkable. Very strange. The past few days have been unreal. I've seen as many news crews out here as all the rest of the traffic put together. They are probably out filming the devastation not realizing that the town pretty much looked like that before.

The roads are pretty messed up. Mostly the side streets. The main road has already been patched. You can see one spot here in town where the yellow line has shifted over a couple of inches.

[panamint_patty]

Ridgecrest earthquake damages up to 50 buildings in Trona
Lots of damage, but as of yet I have heard of no serious injuries.

Fire officials say as many as 50 structures in the small town of Trona were damaged by the magnitude 7.1 earthquake Friday night in Southern California.

https://ktla.com/2019/07/06/small-town-of-trona-is-hit-hard-by-earthquakes-50-structures-damaged/