Temecula Earthquake Woke a Few People Up

By Douglas V. Gibbs

There was a sizable earthquake early this morning, and I slept through it.  In fact, my whole family did.

Talking to neighbors, 1 out of 9 noticed it.

4.0 is big enough to rattle a few nerves, but is truly a smaller quake that really doesn’t do much other than maybe get the mice in the attic scurrying.

Now, that said, rather than the earthquake, the big news was the traffic jam this morning.

At Temecula Parkway and Interstate 15 this morning a construction worker operating a backhoe struck a 4″ gas main at around 2:10 am, literally a minute after the earthquake, and natural gas began spewing out under high pressure.  Local fire and police, along with California Highway Patrol, shutdown the site, including shutting down Temecula Parkway in both directions between Old Town Front Street and La Paz, as well as both northbound and southbound offramps to Temecula Parkway from I-15. Interstate 15 remained open in both directions.  Businesses were asked to have their people evacuate the area.  Riverside County Fire Department hazmat handled the situation, as well as a crew from the Southern California Gas Company.