Moderate earthquake shakes Northern California

Man and boy seriously hurt; about 25 injured

In this story: Napa hit hardest 'Worst I've ever felt' Power outages RELATED STORIES, SITES

NAPA, California -- At least two people were seriously injured early Sunday when an estimated 5.2 magnitude earthquake hit Napa County in Northern California, breaking windows, rupturing gas and water mains, and cutting power to about half the county.

A 41-year-old man and a 5-year-old boy were taken to Queen of the Valley Hospital in Napa with head injuries from falling debris, according to Dennis Sisto, CEO of the hospital. The boy was then transferred to Children's Hospital Oakland.

About 25 people were admitted to Queen of the Valley's emergency room with earthquake-related injuries, mostly minor cuts and bruises, according to Denise Mace, hospital spokesman. A regional emergency medical center has been set up in Napa.

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The moderate temblor in the heart of California wine country hit at 1:36 a.m. PDT, three miles southwest of Yountville and six miles northeast of Sonoma in Napa Valley, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The shaking woke people as far south as San Francisco, some 50 miles away. A 1.5 magnitude aftershock later shook the area.

Napa hit hardest

"The majority of damage is in the city itself," Napa Police Cmdr. Steve Geoghegan told CNN. "We are handling 911 calls that are coming in now," he said, adding police would be able to better assess the damage at daybreak.

Napa police and public works employees are checking if any bridges or dams had been damaged and so far have found none, Geoghegan said.

"We've got, throughout the city, numerous broken windows," said Peter Dreier, with the Napa Police Department. "There are some areas without power and electricity in the city, but there are not any major buildings or roads or overpasses that have been damaged."

Napa police have asked for police help from the city of Vallejo, southeast of Napa. They have also brought in 25 additional fire engines and six ambulances from neighboring Solano County to help check for any fires or structural damage, and in anticipation of more injuries.

'Worst I've ever felt'

California Highway Patrol spokesman Mark Bunger, who has lived in Napa County his whole life, described the quake as "by far the most severe I've ever felt. Usually it's a rolling, but this was more of a real jolting. My wife and kids were screaming. It was quite upsetting."

He said his two-story house in nearby Browns Valley sustained no major damage.

"There's stuff all over the floor, a lot of cracked plaster. I was relieved it was nothing really costly," Bunger said.

Napa County, California, merchants and workers clean up debris in the stores hit by the earthquake early Sunday

Power outages

About 6,000 customers were without power three hours after the quake, down from a high of 10,000, according to a Pacific Gas & Electric Co. spokesman.

The Napa Valley Marriott hotel in Napa was evacuated for safety reasons, according to a woman at the front desk. A few San Francisco Bay area residents cut their long weekends short and went home after the quake, she said.

Bunger said Napa area roads were crowded at 2 a.m. "It looked like commute traffic on a Monday morning," he said.

Geoghegan said the quake woke him and his wife: "It was like a rolling-type movement. It lasted for a few seconds. My office is trashed and my house is trashed."

Dispatcher Rick Wallace of the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department in Santa Rosa, about 30 miles northwest of the quake's epicenter, said he fielded about 100 calls from residents reporting the quake and felt it himself, although the sheriff's department is in an earthquake-proof building.

"We shook twice, back to back, with everything swaying, like a waterbed," Wallace said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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