Ridgecrest man says he was nearly crushed by car when 6.4 earthquake hit
RIDGECREST, Calif. (KABC) -- The strongest earthquake to hit Southern California since 1999 took much of the region by surprise.
Some Ridgecrest residents near the epicenter of the magnitude 6.4 quake were especially rattled.
Pete Robles was underneath his car changing the transmission when it hit and says he narrowly missed being crushed under it.
"I yank out of the car .... BOOM, everything fell to the floor, the whole car," said Robles.
The shaking was also felt throughout the Antelope Valley.
Scott Lynch was riding his bike when it started and he said he was almost knocked off.
"All of a sudden it felt like someone was trying to pull my bike out from under me, left and right. And by the time I noticed it, I started looking around and everything was just swaying," said Lynch. "But I've never had that feeling. It felt like there was someone trying to pull the carpet out from under you."
Effects of the quake were also felt over in Granada Hills in the San Fernando Valley. Many businesses were left without power for several hours.
While most Southern California residents are used to earthquakes, but Stephany Bencharit is from across the county and isn't accustomed to the earth shaking.
"I just moved here from Boston so I had no idea what was going on. I felt really seasick, I could see things moving around," said Bencharit, who was at work in a sandwich shop when it hit.
Thankfully, she said, there weren't too many people in the shop and they were all evacuated safely.
