A magnitude-5.2 earthquake, centered 11 miles east southeast of Willow Creek, jolted the North Coast at 8:03 p.m. on Tuesday.

The Unites States Geological Survey termed it a level VI temblor with a strong shake and light damage.

A magnitude-2.0 aftershock hit five minutes later, 16 miles to the east of Willow Creek.

“It was sort of like a sonic boom,” said Brenda Simmons of SkyCrest Lake resort in Burnt Ranch. “It was a very loud noise before the house started shaking. It was pretty scary, the biggest thing I’ve ever felt here. (It) lasted 10 seconds max. I didn’t feel the aftershock.”

“We felt it good,” said Terri Castner of Willow Creek. “It was a short one with a heavy shake. We’ve got a free-floating ceiling fan and it was rocking and rolling.”

Castner’s cat raced off her lap at the first vibration; a gentleman shopping in the Willow Creek Ray’s Food Place sprinted for the door.

“Everyone had time to go outside and come back and the glass shelf was still shaking,” longtime Ray’s cashier Ginger Reeves said. “It was a hard jolt, but things kept swaying for a couple minutes afterwards. We had a few things fall off the shelf. Nothing major. It wasn’t as bad as the big one in Ferndale a few years ago. That knocked me off my feet.”

“I thought it was me at first,” Janel Trunkey at Willow Creek Pizza Factory said. “I thought it was pretty heavy. We only had one person in here at the time. He was shocked.”

Trunkey said a few things fell of the wall. Simmons said she lost telephone service for 10 minutes, but her rattling dishes came through undamaged.

Simmons said one concerned caller from the Forest Service put her at the center of the quake.

“I’ve felt earthquakes before, but never heard that loud of a noise before,” she said. “My father-in-law thought it was quite exciting. I thought it was a little scary myself.”