Major earthquake in the High Desert

Listening to scanner - patrol car picking up two for transport in Independence.
Sounds like some other injuries up the mountain.

All Account for call, checking if anyone needs assistance.

 

At 1040 there is a very high probability climbers where on the mountaineers route. That is not the place to be during a quake.

 

Several hikers knocked off their feet, a few fell off the trail. And now a drunk driver in a Mercedes is speeding on 395....

 

I felt a slight aftershock at about 11.

 

Oh, that would suck.
I hear cars are buried in rock at the Portal.

 

Unconfirmed.

 

That's crazy.

On the dust storm topic...thinking back to aviation meteorology class I can't see how dust from the middle east would make it to the Western US unless from West to East winds. Probably get to the Eastern US though from the south.

 

If the Candle Light buttress slid the whole parking lot could be buried.

 

That would be a real mess.
A helo just buzzed by headed to the Portal.

 

I hear all these "all accounted for" reports but they know where they are and so does dispatch but WE DON'T.

 

[Sheriff Update 2:14 pm: Whitney Portal area is closed and campgrounds are being evacuated due to rock slide south of the main parking lot. No injuries reported at this time. It is unclear at this time if the main Mt Whitney trail has been affected. It is believed that this slide was triggered by the recent 5.8 earthquake near the Lone Pine area.

Onion Valley Road: open, no reported damage; Horseshoe Meadows Road: closed, debris/rocks in the road; Glacier Lodge Road: open, no reported damage

We are assessing a reported rockslide on Whitney Portal Road and reported debris on Horseshoe Meadows Road. No additional information is known at this time. All updates will be posted.]

Kathleen New, the Chamber of Commerce Executive Director in Lone Pine, reported that they exited the office as soon as the ground started moving and that, “I was really surprised at how long it lasted.” She had no reports of damage other than next door at Gardner’s Hardware, which she said “Was a bit of a mess.” She was going to go over to help the owners “clean up.”

Sierra Wave’s Kat Greenman was in Lone Pine in front of Lee’s Frontier Liquor & Deli & Gas when the earthquake hit. She said it scared the **** out of her! She had never been outside during one and she said that it almost caused her to lose her balance, something that’s never before happened.

Kathy Chambers, the librarian at the Lone Pine Library, told Sierra Wave that she was at home when the earthquake struck, but went immediately to the library (which was closed due to the coronavirus pandemic) to assess the damage. She said there’s plenty of books on the floor and that in one aisle in particular, she couldn’t even walk down it.


Grave site is located just north of Lone Pine.

Lone Pine is no stranger to earthquakes. Just days prior to today’s shaker, the area has experienced several small earthquakes which are reportedly taken place under the Owens Dry Lake Bed.

In 1872 on March 26, the Owens Valley earthquake (a.k.a., Lone Pine earthquake) killed twenty-seven people and injured fifty-six. It had a magnitude 7.4 to 7.9 and was one of the largest earthquakes to hit California in recorded history, similar in size to the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.

Sierra Wave will keep you posted as more information comes in.

 

It's SoCal's time.
https://scedc.caltech.edu/recent/Qu...YEqI97zu1DEDkJoZeK4SGF-pNJFKdxXHxQ3aSsqftyQCM

 

Learn to swim. LOL

 

If I had a nickle for every "Cali is doomed" story, I'd have enough to move...

 

M 4.8 - 36km WSW of Stovepipe Wells, CA
https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthqu...dEWaBVx4wbHn1I0pgjqrD2mx6RpLkKBA3vc_pflNefPi4

 

It's hot

 

Felt nothing here...

 

Also starting to swarm out near Coso Volcanic fields / Ridgecrest area