Earthquake Damage Reported in La Habra, La Mirada, Whittier

The Trader Joes in Whittier took a direct hit to its wine department. Hundreds of bottles were broken. Photo via Facebook (Gary Mendez)

By Brian Hews

The 5.1 earthquake that hit the greater La Habra, Whittier, and La Mirada area on Friday night has caused mostly minor damage, but reports of more serious problems throughout the area have been reported.

In La Mirada and La Habra at least a half a dozen water main pipes were busted, causing several streets and intersections to be closed.

At the Trader Joes in Whittier, several hundred bottles of wine were broken.

In Downey, Fire Station 62 reported that one light pole was down, but a specific location was not disclosed.

Also in La Habra, several homes appear to have been structurally damaged, specialists from Toronto water damage restoration working on site.

In Cerritos, hundreds of concert goers at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts felt the earthquake at the start of the intermission from jazz performer Chris Botti.  Several were stuck temporarily in elevators, and many of those in attendance screamed “earthquake” before exiting out of the location.

NOTE: If you have photos of damage to your property or belongings, feel free to send them to [email protected], and describe what took place during the earthquake.