You may remember that the lovely and famous Napa suffered from a large 6.0 earthquake on August 24, 2014. Felt all over the Bay Area, it was the largest quake we’d had around here since Loma Prieta in 1989, and Napa was the hardest hit. I can assure you, it was quite a shock to feel it at 3:30 am.
I visited Napa in December and maybe this isn’t the timeliest post (grad school has made me very late on a lot of things…), but I wanted to share some photos of Napa’s quaint downtown, which was seriously damaged. Many of the buildings were historic, and several were red tagged.
A closeup of the cracks in the building above
A poignant message nailed to where a door used to be
It’s hard to see, but the newspaper remains the same as the day of the quake
But, amid all of this, there were still pretty spots that survived. This block, with a building from 1879, was thriving
And the leaves were changing colors, a rarity around here
Even though these pictures were taken a couple of months after the quake, it’s a reminder that the damage remains for a long time. I know they are hard at work at cleaning everything up and completing the recovery. Buildings that were shut down are slowly starting to open. Hopefully by the end of spring, nearly everything will be back to its former self!