Earthquake damage in Vallejo is put at $5.2 million in early estimates
The earthquake that struck the Bay Area early Sunday caused less damage here than in nearby Napa but still sent chunks of chimneys tumbling to the ground, damaged several downtown buildings and left a church bell tower on the verge of collapse.
Vallejo’s response to the earthquake felt smaller and calmer too: Hours after the quake, only a few residents walked through the hilly streets of downtown, past restored boutiques and empty buildings with windows covered in paper. Firefighters sat chatting in chairs outside the station. A few downtown shop owners swept shattered glass from the sidewalks.
Napa’s crumbling historic buildings and famous wine cellars received the most attention Sunday, officials said. But by Monday, the news reporters had arrived en masse. “Now folks are paying attention,” said Chief Building Officer Lonell Butler. “Although that extra day of quiet served us just fine,” he added, laughing.
More than a dozen city inspectors were working to assess buildings Monday. According to preliminary estimates, the 6.0-magnitude earthquake caused at least $5.2 million in damage. Nine commercial buildings and one mixed-use building were red-tagged, or deemed unusable. At least 34 other buildings, including some homes, were damaged less severely.
The American Red Cross opened a shelter in Vallejo but closed it when no one came, officials said. They added that several accounts of looting were incorrect.
Several streets in downtown remained blocked off Monday, including a corner near a red-brick Baptist church where a bell tower teetered dangerously. A demolition crew removed two floors of a five-story building where a falling parapet wall had punched through the roof.
The earthquake also damaged several buildings on Mare Island, a nearby peninsula. Eight historic mansions on Walnut Street, a leafy boulevard dubbed Captain’s Row, were deemed potentially dangerous after chimneys and parts of roofs crumbled and toppled to the ground. At a nearby chapel, pipes from a 1929 organ crashed to the floor, although the stained-glass windows survived intact.
Overall, “things seem to be a bit quieter than they are to the north,” said Joyce Giles, the manager of the Mare Island Museum, which was red-tagged. She said she was thankful the mansions had been rebuilt to include seismic reinforcements.
Electronics shop owner Mohammad Jaleel’s wife and six children ran through shattering glass, falling ductwork and a blizzard of paint chips to escape from the upper floor of the family’s two-story commercial building. He weathered the quake beneath his workbench. Cleaning up the chaos will take weeks, he said. Flat-screen TVs and computers were strewn on the floor or leaned in cockeyed piles.
“What do you do?” he said, arms up in exasperation. “It is Mother Nature.”
Twitter: @paigestjohn
Twitter: @laura_nelson
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
