Imagine waking up one morning and finding the ocean rushing toward your neighborhood. According to scientists, that terrifying scenario isn’t just the stuff of movies — it’s a real possibility in three U.S. regions.
Imagine waking up one morning and finding the ocean rushing toward your neighborhood. According to scientists, that terrifying scenario isn’t just the stuff of movies — it’s a real possibility in three U.S. regions.
Stretching from Northern Vancouver Island to Cape Mendocino, California, this fault line has the potential to unleash an enormous quake, triggering not only land collapse but a catastrophic wave event capable of swallowing entire towns.
A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences breaks down the danger: researchers from Virginia Tech say a quake in this area could cause land to sink by up to 6½ feet, dramatically expanding coastal floodplains.
“The expansion of the coastal floodplain following a Cascadia subduction zone earthquake has not been previously quantified,” explained Tina Dura, lead author of the study and assistant professor at Virginia Tech.
“The impacts to land use could significantly increase the timeline to recovery.”
The scary part? There’s a 15% chance that this fault could unleash a magnitude 8.0 or greater earthquake within the next 50 years, experts say.
Why this could be devastating
When huge chunks of the Earth’s crust shift during an earthquake — or when a landslide or volcanic eruption occurs — the displaced ocean water can result in a mega tsunami. These waves are nothing like your typical beach swells. They can tower hundreds of feet high and move at terrifying speeds, wiping out everything in their path.
In the Pacific Northwest, it’s not just the shaking that’s concerning — it’s the aftershocks, land sinking, and the possibility of massive waves crashing inland.
