A 4.4 magnitude earthquake struck near Santa Rosa Tuesday evening, followed a minute later by an aftershock that was upgraded to a 4.3 magnitude, according to the United States Geological Survey.
The quake hit at 6:39 p.m. and was centered 3.9 miles north-northeast of Santa Rosa, startling residents all over the North Bay.
"It kind of felt like a car hit the building but it kept rumbling," said Jesse Mendoza who was working at a gas station on Mendocino Avenue.
He said he ran outside to safety.
"It was over before it started it gave us a chance to come back in but as soon as we came back in it started shaking again it sacred again and we ran right back out the door," said Mendoza.
Carissa Piercy of Santa Rosa was having dinner downtown when she felt it.
"The whole thing started to shake I thought it was a car that had driven into the building or something," she said.
The Santa Rosa Police Department said that no major damage or injuries were reported, but the fire department said it received reports of gas leaks, fire alarms and people stuck in elevators.
About a minute after the 4.4 quake, a 4.3 magnitude aftershock was reported by the USGS. That second temblor was upgraded from a preliminary 3.9 magnitude.
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“There's typically about a 5% chance that any event that we have will be followed by a larger event in the next several days,” said Robot De Groot, USGS geologist. “We know this based on what happened historically in California."
A ShakeAlert was sent just seconds from the earthquake, warning residents to take cover.
"The system reacted very quickly," said De Groot. "About five seconds, "We know many thousands of people received the alert on their phone so we consider this a success.”
