Unseen Threat Looms: Could a Mega Tsunami Obliterate Coastal America This Century?

So, here’s a fun thought to kick things off: What if part of America just vanished—no smoke, no mirrors, just straight-up wiped off by a mega-tsunami? Sounds like the plot of some apocalyptic Netflix original, right? But nope—scientists are seriously ringing alarm bells about the Cascadia Subduction Zone, a whopper of a fault line stretching about 620 miles from Northern Vancouver Island down to California. This geological sleeping giant might just decide to throw a seismic tantrum before 2100, and the consequences? Think coastal cities like Seattle and Portland doing a disappearing act thanks to an earthquake potentially so fierce it could trigger a tsunami the likes of which the West Coast has never seen. Add in climate change cranking the dial up on sea levels, and suddenly, we’re looking at not just one, but decades of flooding and chaos to untangle. No popcorn for this drama, folks — just sobering facts and a big question: Are we really ready for what’s lurking beneath? LEARN MORE

Scientists have issued an urgent warning to the public about a possible seismic event that could happen in the not-so-distant future.

The new study claims that a part of America could be wiped off the face of the Earth, if an earthquake powerful enough hits an active fault line by 2100.

There are a lot of factors at play here, but the bottom line is that a mega-tsunami could impact the US relatively soon.

The nation’s west coast is at risk, with the fault at risk running from Northern Vancouver Island to Cape Mendocino in California.

Running about 620 miles in length, it’s called the Cascadia Subduction Zone and it holds the title of being the sixth largest fault line in the world.

Coastal areas on the west coast of America would be destroyed (Getty Stock Image)

What is the Cascadia Subduction Zone?

The fault is still some 180 miles short of the infamous San Andreas line, which runs across California, but it highlights more potential dangers in a similar area.

Marking the boundary between the Juan de Fuca Plate and the North American Plate, it has the potential to produce massive earthquakes, with the estimated magnitude 9.0 event of 1700 standing out in history.

This caused a 50-foot high tsunami across the Pacific Ocean, with the fault known in the scientific community as a sleeping giant with huge potential.

It was also the last time a large seismic magnitude earthquake occurred along the fault.

Warnings of a magnitude 8.0 earthquake

A number of Virginia Tech geoscientists published findings that estimated that there’s a 15 percent chance of a brutal 8.0 earthquake hitting the area in the next 50 years, and a 29 percent chance of it happening by 2100.

Writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, they titled their paper ‘Increased flood exposure in the Pacific Northwest following earthquake-driven subsidence and sea-level rise’.

What effects would this have?

The earthquake could have monumental repercussions, potentially flushing away cities near the coast in in Northern California, Oregon and Washington such as Seattle and Portland, while coastal land could sink anywhere up to six and a half feet.

The scientists warned in the study: “Under future climate-driven sea-level rise scenarios, tsunamis created by more common, smaller magnitude earthquakes can have the same coastal wave heights as rare, great-earthquake generated tsunamis.”

Lead author Tina Dura told NBC News: “This lesser talked about hazard is going to persist for decades or centuries after the earthquake.

“The tsunami will come in and wash away and it’s going to have big impacts, don’t get me wrong, but the lasting change of the frequency of flooding … that’s going to have to be dealt with.”

The scientists said that if the earthquake happened in 2100, amplified by the effects of climate change, 17,710 people, 29,060 buildings and 1,620km of road would be exposed to flooding.

Farmland would be drenched in salt water, resulting in huge financial losses.

Five airports, 18 critical facilities like schools, hospitals and police stations, and one electrical substation would also be exposed to the floodwaters.

The 1,000-foot mega-tsunami would have catastrophic effects on the US (Getty Stock Image)

Will there be any warning signs?

Unfortunately, unlike climate-driven events, it is explained that this potential earthquake could ‘happen within minutes, leaving no time for adaptation or mitigation’.

Dura explained: “The expansion of the coastal floodplain following a Cascadia subduction zone earthquake has not been previously quantified, and the impacts to land use could significantly increase the timeline to recovery.”