Weather
Newly-released video simulations from government departments show what would happen if a mega-tsunami struck the west coast of North America. The Department of Natural Resources video shows tsunami waves of ten feet or more striking Washington state.
The US has long been wary of the Big One, a 9.0-magnitude earthquake along the American west coast. This earthquake, which is long overdue, would immediately unleash a mega-tsunami that would sweep over Washington, Oregon, and California within minutes.
Seismologists, who have been monitoring the Cascadia Subduction Zone, believe a 9.0 magnitude quake happens every 300-600 years. This means that the next mega-earthquake is overdue, with the last magnitude-9.0 Cascadia subduction zone earthquake in January, 1700.
In the simulations, the first waves reach the coastline in just 15 minutes after the quake begins.
