Powerful earthquake shakes Southland amid tropical storm

On a day the region was already coping with a major tropical storm, a powerful earthquake centered in Ventura County shook most of Southern California Sunday.

The temblor, initially given a magnitude of 5.0 but later upgraded to 5.1, struck at 2:41 p.m. about 4 miles southeast of Ojai, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It was quickly followed by a series of aftershocks, the largest of them measuring a magnitude of 3.8.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage attributed to the quake, but it was widely felt across the region, with shaking felt across Los Angeles County’s South Bay and into Riverside County. The Ventura County Sheriff’s Department wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that there are “no immediate reports of damage at this time,” but the agency warned there would likely be additional aftershocks.

The Los Angeles Fire Department went into “earthquake mode” after the shaker, with crews dispatched to conduct inspections of all major infrastructure, such as bridges, apartment buildings, power lines and places where large numbers of people typically gather.

Southland earthquake expert Lucy Jones wrote on X that the shaker appeared to have been preceded to a series of foreshocks that began Saturday morning. She said the area will likely continue to experience aftershocks, with a 5% chance of one that will be larger than the initial 5.1-magnitude quake.

“There is no correlation between the earthquake and the tropical storm,” she wrote. “Just a coincidence that is a good reminder that disaster resilience is a multi-hazard endeavor.”

The quake occurred on a day the remnants of Hurricane Hilary, which weakened into a tropical storm before it made landfall, was bringing heavy rain across Southern California and had first-responders already on high alert.

The National Weather Service said there was no threat of a tsunami due to the quake.

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