Sonoma County declares local emergency following Napa quake

Sonoma County on Saturday declared a local state of emergency following last Sunday’s magnitude-6.0 earthquake in Napa County, clearing the way for county residents and businesses who had property damaged to seek state and federal emergency funds.

The Board of Supervisors will hold a special session to ratify Saturday’s proclamation by County Administrator Veronica Ferguson sometime before Friday.

“We felt this was something we had to do to ensure that people who might need emergency funding would have access to those resources,” said Board of Supervisors Chairman David Rabbitt. “Obviously, Napa suffered more serious damages than Sonoma did, but there are some losses and they’re not insignificant.”

The county estimates the quake has caused at least $4.5  million in damages, more than half to wineries. To date, there have been 11 reports from residents and businesses, all in the Sonoma Valley and Agua Caliente areas, said Tennis Wick, director of the county Permit and Resource Management Department. Most of the damage has been to contents of buildings, rather than buildings, though one residence has been yellow-tagged, he said.

One of the wineries that suffered damages, he said, was Canihan Family Wines.

Owner Bill Canihan posted to his Facebook page on Monday that among the initial damage were broken barrels and the collapse of the brick chimney of their vineyard house. He could not immediately be reached for comment Saturday evening.

“Our public resources I can say with some pride stood up very well. There we were extremely fortunate,” Wick said. “But this process will help make it possible for businesses who need a Small Business Loan or residents who require FEMA resources to apply for that help if and when it’s available.”

The earthquake, which was centered near the city of American Canyon, struck at 3:20 a.m. on Aug. 24 and has caused at least $362.4 million in damage to government property, homes and businesses in Napa County.

Hours after the earthquake hit, Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency for Napa, Solano and Sonoma counties.

Under guidelines established for state and federal emergency assistance, an affected area must provide an estimate on how much damage it has suffered to receive benefits and resources like federal and state loans and other assistance. County officials said they needed to provide information as soon as possible but that it took some time to receive and confirm reports, said Chris Helgren, the county’s emergency coordinator.

“The numbers are estimates at this point,” Helgren said. “We’re continuing to send out inspectors throughout the weekend.”

Officials said issuing a proclamation was the first step in a process that would allow residents and business access to resources as they become available, but was no guarantee applicants would receive assistance. Still, Wick said, the county encouraged business and residents affected to apply for help.

“We will continually be checking to see what’s available and reach out to let people know about that,” he said, adding that his agency will be asking the Board of Supervisors to waive certain permit fees for people who need them to rebuild.

Officials said they expect President Barack Obama this week to make federal money available to the areas hit by the quake.

Sonoma County has been under a local emergency since February because of the state wide drought, said county spokeswoman Rebecca Wachsberg. That emergency declaration is renewed every 30 days, most recently on Aug. 19, she said.

The county is asking anyone who suffered more than $1,000 in damage from the earthquake to call 565-3856 and make a report. Inspectors would be sent out in response to any claims.