Earthquake Rocks Southern California, Bridge Temporarily Closed
Shaking was felt from Santa Barbara to Venice. Three aftershocks were recorded ranging from magnitude 1.6 to magnitude 1.8. There were no immediate reports of injuries.
Authorities shut down Whites Canyon Bridge, located in the city of Santa Clarita north of Chatsworth, after deputies found minor cracking and small chunks of fallen concrete. The six-lane suspension bridge, which spans 300 feet, connects to a busy state route.
Engineers determined the bridge sustained only cosmetic damage. It was reopened later in the day.
"The bridge did what it was designed to do. It expanded at the expansion joints allowing for movement of the structure without causing any issues," city engineer Damon Letz said in a statement.
The closure came just days after the fatal bridge collapse in Minneapolis. The Santa Clarita bridge is a suspension design, unlike the truss bridge that buckled in Minnesota.
The quick jolt from the temblor caused hundreds of alarms to go off in the Chatsworth area and knocked items off store shelves but did not cause widespread damage.
At Chatsworth Florist, two ceramic dolls broke and several empty cardboard boxes toppled to the ground.
"We were amazed the damage wasn't worse," said floral designer Linda Smith.
Scientists have not determined which fault the quake occurred on because the temblor was not strong enough to rip the ground open. But it appeared to have struck in the same region as the devastating 1994 Northridge temblor.
Seismologist Kate Hutton of the California Institute of Technology said Thursday's temblor was "pretty much a typical earthquake."