Earthquake rattles Southern California as Tropical Storm Hilary hits


A 5.1-magnitude earthquake hit the Ojai, California, area on Sunday afternoon, as Tropical Storm Hilary was making its way up into Southern California.
"We are in the middle of the first tropical storm since 1939, and we just had an earthquake," Ventura County Fire Director of Communications Scott Thomsen told the Los Angeles Times. There are no reports of any serious damage or injuries in Ojai, a city northwest of Los Angeles and east of Santa Barbara. Some small businesses said they had products crash to the ground and break; at the Ojai Beverage Company, a few bottles of wine and a $900 bottle of tequila fell and shattered, manager Nick Howard told the Times.
The temblor occurred along the Sisar fault system, and was not connected to the tropical storm, scientists said. Hilary made landfall in Baja California on Sunday morning, and forecasters are warning that it could bring "catastrophic and life-threatening" flooding to Southern California.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
Today's political cartoons - May 4, 2025
Cartoons Sunday's cartoons - deportation, Canadian politeness, and more
-
5 low approval cartoons about poll numbers
Cartoons Artists take on fake pollsters, shared disapproval, and more
-
Deepfakes and impostors: the brave new world of AI jobseeking
In The Spotlight More than 80% of large companies use AI in their hiring process, but increasingly job candidates are getting in on the act
-
US proposes eroding species protections
Speed Read The Trump administration wants to change the definition of 'harm' in the Environmental Protection Act to allow habitat damage
-
Severe storms kill dozens across central US
Speed Read At least 40 people were killed over the weekend by tornadoes, wildfires and dust storms
-
Parts of California are sinking and affecting sea level
Under the radar Climate change is bringing the land to the sea
-
Rain helps Los Angeles wildfires, risks mudslides
Speed Read The weather provided relief for crews working to contain wildfires, though rain over a burn area ups the chances of flooding and mudslides
-
Death toll rises in LA fires as wind lull allows progress
Speed Read At least 24 people have died and 100,000 people are under mandatory evacuation orders
-
Biden cancels Italy trip as raging LA fires spread
Speed Read The majority of the fires remain 0% contained
-
Fast-spreading Los Angeles wildfires spark panic
Speed Read About 30,000 people were under an evacuation order as the inferno spread
-
Hundreds feared dead in French Mayotte cyclone
Speed Read Cyclone Chido slammed into Mayotte, a French territory in the Indian Ocean