20 years ago: the Earthquake that stopped the World Series

[minniecarousel]

Oct. 17, 1989 was the Loma Prieta Earthquake here in the Bay Area. Ironically, that was the World Series between the two Bay Area teams - the A's & the Giants.

My DH worked near downtown Oakland and parked under the freeway in a lot there. I watched the TV news and saw a section of the freeway that had collapsed. I just knew that DH would have left there already, because he wanted to be home for this "Bay Bridge World Series". Sure enough, he pulled in at home shortly after the earthquake, which he didn't feel, as he was driving. It also turns out that the section of the freeway that had collapsed wasn't the section that he parked under.

A section of the Bay Bridge collapsed. Many freeways collapsed, many buildings that didn't collapse were declared not-earthquake-safe.

My Mom was talking to one of my brothers on the phone during the quake. He told her that he was feeling an earthquake, and she was further North & felt it moments after he did.

Watching on TV, we saw people pulling together to rescue strangers. Good old-fashioned water brigades were operating. It was an amazing time here in the Bay Area.

Do you remember hearing about this? Living in other parts of the US, did it have any impact on you?

 

[Avalon_toon]

I remember this earthquake really well, even though I live in Canada. My first husband was seriously ill, battling cancer, and was a huge baseball fan. When the earthquake hit, we were watching the news anxiously, hoping people would be ok, but also hoping it didn't delay the World Series too much, because we weren't sure how much longer he could live, and it was one of the things he was holding on for, one last World Series. He made it though, even with the delay - he passed away 6 days after the final game. I can't believe its been 20 years.

 

[NMAmy]

My sister lived in San Francisco at the time but was working in Oakland that day. My cousin lived in Oakland but was in San Francisco. Both were stuck and so they broke into each other's apartments for a place to stay and my sister took care of cousin's dog until he could get back.

Yep, I remember it vividly even though I was living in New Mexico at the time--because we were worried about all our family living there and phone service wasn't working.

I'm still a little freaked when I hit a stoplight where I'm forced to wait under an overpass. It always makes me think of the freeways collapsing in the earthquake even though I live in Michigan.

We did call my sister the Earthquake magnet for awhile. She moved to LA shortly after this in time for the big quake there a few years later.

 

[barkley]

i remember it well!

i was working in richmond and had just entered the 2nd story ladies room (think old institutional type government building). i initaly felt a wave under my feet and when i glanced over to the mirrors i could see them warping i ran into one of the stalls, slammed it shut and braced myself against it (i figured if the glass started shattering it would provide a barrier). i could feel the metal walls that were bolted into the floor being lifted.

when it ended i went back to my desk and was glad i had'nt been there-books, files and shards of glass from the book case were on it, in my chair and underneath.

as i was driving home i was listening to kgo and hearing the reports-just as i hit the toll plaza on the carquinez bridge word came over about the caldecot collapse. the cars that were in line to pay toll just stayed there for several minutes-and the toll attendants were ashen faced (you did'nt need to have a radio on in your own car, if you rolled down the window you could hear radios from other cars and the toll booths). it was very surreal.

 

[arminnie]

Oct. 17, 1989 was the Loma Prieta Earthquake here in the Bay Area. Ironically, that was the World Series between the two Bay Area teams - the A's & the Giants.

My DH worked near downtown Oakland and parked under the freeway in a lot there. I watched the TV news and saw a section of the freeway that had collapsed. I just knew that DH would have left there already, because he wanted to be home for this "Bay Bridge World Series". Sure enough, he pulled in at home shortly after the earthquake, which he didn't feel, as he was driving. It also turns out that the section of the freeway that had collapsed wasn't the section that he parked under.

A section of the Bay Bridge collapsed. Many freeways collapsed, many buildings that didn't collapse were declared not-earthquake-safe.

My Mom was talking to one of my brothers on the phone during the quake. He told her that he was feeling an earthquake, and she was further North & felt it moments after he did.

Watching on TV, we saw people pulling together to rescue strangers. Good old-fashioned water brigades were operating. It was an amazing time here in the Bay Area.

Do you remember hearing about this? Living in other parts of the US, did it have any impact on you?

Yes - I remember it well. I was living in Foster City (a little South of SFO airport) and working in San Mateo.

I was standing in the doorway of the next office when the wall looked like it was going to crumble. My friend said "We are having an earthquake". The lights flickered, and then it was all over, and everything was normal.

I worked for Visa International which has the most incredible backup facilities that you can imagine. We had backups of backups of backups. If the center in San Mateo went down we could instantaneously (with no outage) switch all processing to Virginia or if that failed to an international center.

We never lost power, phone service or the data center. If fact - we had to go "single center" which is a crisis mode with only one of the U.S. centers running that night - but it was the Virginia center that went down not ours!

I've been through several hurricanes (including the infamous Katrina in 2005) and a tornado or two - but I would take an earthquake any day.

I called my parents about 10 minutes later to tell them that I was okay and it was no big deal (my mother was a terrible worrier). She's the one who told me about the bridge collapse. Okay - that WAS a big deal.

My home (Foster City) was built on landfill - but I had no problems at all. The power was off (as a precaution) until about 9 pm. But other than that it was just normal on the Peninsula.

The next morning all of the TV newscasts said to stay at home unless you absolutely had to get out. It was a beautiful sunny October day with NO problems where I lived so I felt like I really did need to go to work. SO glad that I did. My boss managed to get in from Sausalito (no traffic lights and had to thread through the city) - and she did my performance appraisal that day! It would not have looked good if I had stayed home when it took me 5 minutes to drive in with no problems.

 

[arminnie]

We did call my sister the Earthquake magnet for awhile. She moved to LA shortly after this in time for the big quake there a few years later.

I am the disaster magnet!
Go to college in New Orleans - Hurricane Betsy hits during orientation
Go to grad school in Palo Alto, CA - 2 year drought the entire time I was there.
Move to Pittsburgh, Pa - worst winter ever (1978), even the banks close
Move to Houston - tornado demolishes all the homes across the street from me and half of my condo complex
Move to Dallas - tornado takes off part of my roof and does lots of damage
Move to SF Bay area - Loma Prieta
Buy condo in New Orleans - Katrina hits 10 days later.
Little Rock -tornado takes out 6 houses on our circle

The miracle of all of this is that I personally never suffer serious damage. You do not want to live near me.

 

[diznygirl]

I am the disaster magnet!
Go to college in New Orleans - Hurricane Betsy hits during orientation
Go to grad school in Palo Alto, CA - 2 year drought the entire time I was there.
Move to Pittsburgh, Pa - worst winter ever (1978), even the banks close
Move to Houston - tornado demolishes all the homes across the street from me and half of my condo complex
Move to Dallas - tornado takes off part of my roof and does lots of damage
Move to SF Bay area - Loma Prieta
Buy condo in New Orleans - Katrina hits 10 days later.
Little Rock -tornado takes out 6 houses on our circle

The miracle of all of this is that I personally never suffer serious damage. You do not want to live near me.

Just checking your current location.

 

[koima]

I was 11 and my family had just moved to a town about 40 miles from San Francisco, from LA. We were unpacking the china of all things, and I remember my mom rushing me and my brother to the doorway, yelling "THey told us we didn't need earthquake insurance!" Hehe. The china was fine, since most of it was still wrapped.

 

[bigbabyblues]

I was watching the game with my twin brother......we didn't live in the same house, and this was sort of odd for us. We would have been 13 at the time.

 

[mamacatnv]

I was living in Los Angeles and very pregnant with DS but my Dad and Bro were in the bay area where I grew up.

Dad was in a Nob Hill Grocery store in San Jose (Camden Ave) in the beer aisle and my Bro was in Fremont. It took me 3 days to reach any of them by phone. Dad said he was surrounded by broken beer bottles and was annoyed that he could not purchase his beer. Both said getting home was a nightmare due to all the downed and out power lines etc.

When I was a little girl I remember asking my Dad as we were crossing the Bay Bridge "What would happen if the bridge broke" and I distinctly remember my Dad saying "it will never happen" he was wrong and I hate bridges to this day.

 

[Duckyiam71]

I was not even near the Bay Area. I was in my freshman year of college at VA Tech. My roommate, who I do not talk to anymore, was the only one watching the game in an all girls dorm, and came running up and down the hallway yelling about an earthquake. We thought she was talking about in the mountains and thought was loosing it already in the year. Little did we know the devastion of the area until a few hours later. We all wanted to go and help in some way but all we could do was watch hours of tv coverage. Especially of the double decker bridges that collapsed on each other.