The quake struck 86 miles west-southwest of Anchor Point at 1:30 a.m. Alaska time, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The Alaska Earthquake Center said it hit on the west side of Cook Inlet, about 65 miles west of the Kenai Peninsula town of Homer and about 160 miles southwest of Anchorage.
The quake knocked items off shelves and walls and shook buildings throughout the region. A series of aftershocks followed, including a magnitude 4.5 that struck about two hours after the initial quake and could be felt again in Anchorage.
There were no immediate reports of injuries. Isolated power outages were reported throughout the region.
According to the National Weather Service, the quake was not expected to generate a tsunami.
The Anchorage Fire Department reported it was "very busy with reports of gas odors, alarm systems sounding, broken water lines, etc." in the wake of the earthquake. The Anchorage Police Department said shortly after 2 a.m. that it had not received any reports of major damage.
On the Kenai Peninsula, some damage was being reported, as Shannon McCarthy, with the state Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, said Kalifornsky Beach Road was closed in the Kasilof area Sunday morning due to a crack in the road.
“There is a crack in the road and DOT’s on the scene right now,” McCarthy said.
Officials with the were also at the scene of a reported "gas leak/explosion at a home" following the earthquake. The department later said it was evacuating all homes along Lilac Lane in Kenai due to "multiple gas line ruptures." A shelter had been established at the National Guard armory for displaced residents.
At the shelter, Alaska Army National Guard Sgt. 1st Class Albert Burns said at least one home had been destroyed Sunday morning, but no reports of injuries had come in.
“There’s a house that the gas line ruptured at and it caught on fire, and the gal lost her house,” Burns said.
Burns said there was still an active fire in the area as of 4:30 a.m. Sunday, with displaced residents being moved to the shelter.
“We’ve got approximately 15 people here right now,” Burns said.
and users reported scattered power outages around the region from the quake, which continued for about 30 seconds, and was strong enough to knock objects off shelves in homes and stores around the region.
At 3:15 Sunday morning, the Carrs grocery store on Huffman -- normally open 24 hours -- was closed, with the parking lot nearly empty and the entryway dark. A young man in a black coat pounded on the window. He quickly left in frustration.
Inside, most of the lights were out and a few glass jars of food were broken in the aisles. A maintenance worker said through the crack between the sliding doors that they'd try to reopen at 7 a.m.
Tom Chouinard, who's lived in Anchorage for 64 years, arrived hoping he could buy batteries for a space heater to warm up his south Anchorage home. "It's getting kind of cool in there," he said. Chouinard said he experienced the magnitude-9.2 quake that devastated the region in 1964, when he was living downtown on Sixth Avenue.
"I thought it was the end of the world," he said of that memorable earthquake. "This one wasn't as bad."
Many, though, said it was the strongest earthquake they'd felt in decades of living in Alaska.
In Homer, just across Cook Inlet from the epicenter, Land's End Resort was full of visitors for the ConocoPhillips Besh Cup, a cross-country ski race taking place in the town over the weekend. The resort sits on the Homer Spit, a sliver of land that cuts out into Kachemak Bay.
Daniel Brophy, who was working the front desk, said that the earthquake was felt strongly on the Spit. The earthquake didn't trigger any of the numerous tsunami warning systems in place in the area, including sirens and loudspeakers. Brophy checked the tsunami alerts right away, and said the hotel would have also received a call if there was a threat of a wave.
Instead, the biggest problem was a few TV sets that had fallen over in guests' rooms. Still, it was a significant earthquake, he said.
"It felt like being on a rinky-dink boat in a storm, it was a lot of rocking and swaying," he said.
Power outages were reported in pockets all over Anchorage as well as elsewhere in Southcentral. Homer Electric reported outages around Nikiski and Kasilof. Matanuska Electric Association was reporting scattered outages as well.
Chugach Electric was reporting about 4,100 customers without power around 2 a.m. Municipal Light and Power said crews were responding to "some isolated, localized outages" in its service area.
Anchorage Water and Wastewater Utility was responding to one major line break in the area of Wisconsin and Turnagain streets, expected to affect "about 18 multiplexes," according to Joe Polowy, AWWU’s superintendent of distribution operations.
Social media users said they could feel the temblor as far away as Fairbanks Kodiak, and Juneau.
Aftershocks were rattling the area near the initial quake Sunday morning; the USGS reported earthquakes with magnitudes of 4.0 and 3.2 within a half-hour of the first, stronger earthquake.
The earthquake rolled many out of bed, but in Anchorage, the bars were still open when the shaker struck.
James Mooney, general manager at Humpy’s Alehouse in downtown Anchorage, said the establishment lost power during the quake, with some glasses and dishes falling and breaking. The bar’s adjacent sister businesses, Flattop Pizza and the Subzero Lounge, fared a little better.
“We had to close a little early,” Mooney said. “Our computer systems were knocked out on the Humpy’s side -- Flattop and Subzero still had their power.”
“That was a crazy earthquake, man -- I’ve been here 20 years, and that’s the most powerful one I’ve felt,” Mooney said.
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