The 'inevitable' US disasters that keep scientists up at night

Americans are no strangers to natural disasters. Each year, the US endures extreme storms, raging wildfires, earthquakes and more. 

In 2024, there were 27 billion-dollar catastrophes in the US - and those were just weather and climate-related events. 

But scientists have long warned that the worst is yet to come. 

From a megaquake to a supercharged hurricane and a devastating volcanic eruption, research has shown that certain exceptionally dangerous disasters are bound to occur.

Any one of these events could lay waste to entire cities - resulting in mass death, the destruction of thousands of homes and the complete collapse of regional infrastructure.

It's not a matter of if they will strike, but when. 

Even with state-of-the art technology and research methods, forecasting natural disasters is extremely challenging. And in some cases, it's impossible. 

That's why scientists have urged Americans to prepare for these worst-case scenarios to strike at any time. 

Even though disaster preparedness has increased in recent years, experts say the looming threat of these 'inevitable' crises keeps them up at night. 

'The Big One'

The West Coast is overdue for a massive earthquake along the San Andreas fault, a fracture in the Earth's crust that spans 800 miles in California.

The anticipated magnitude-8 quake would wreak havoc upon the state's famous cities, causing roughly 1,800 deaths, 50,000 injuries and $200 billion in damage, according to the Great California Shakeout. And experts say this is an underestimate. 

It's impossible to predict exactly when 'The Big One' - or any earthquake - will occur. But experts are fairly confident that a large quake could strike California within the next 30 years.

That's because geologic studies suggest a large-magnitude quake occurs along the San Andreas fault every 150 years - and the last one was 167 years ago. 

'We want people to know that this could happen at any time,' Christie Rowe, director of the Nevada Seismological Laboratory, told the Daily Mail.

'It could be another 300 years, or it could happen tomorrow,' she said. 

When 'The Big One' inevitably hits, high-intensity ground shaking will begin within the first 30 seconds.

Cities and towns within a 60-mile radius of the epicenter and located directly on the fault line - such as Palm Springs - could have shaking up to intensity level 9. 

This level of ground movement is considered 'violent' and could cause significant damage to buildings - even making some collapse or shift off their foundations, according to the United States Geological Survey. 

If the epicenter is located near the Salton Sea, intensity level 2 to 3 shaking would reach Los Angeles about 45 seconds after the initial rupture, according to the Great California Shakeout.

By the 75-second mark, high-intensity tremors would be rolling in, steadily increasing ground movement until the most violent shaking - up to intensity level 9 - hits at about 90 seconds.

Violent shaking could rock LA for at least a minute, according to the Shakeout.

In that time, extensive damage will likely have occurred - leading buildings to crumble and shifting them off their foundations. As infrastructure is destroyed, many residents will likely be injured or killed. 

Although scientist's can't predict exactly when 'The Big One' will strike, 'the magnitude of damage is so great that it's not trivial to prepare for it,' Rowe said.

Category 6 Hurricane Danielle  

Sometime around the year 2100, an 'ultra-intense Category 6' hurricane could unleash itself upon the US.

This grave forecast is part of the book Category Five: Superstorms and the Warming Oceans That Feed Them, in which author Porter Fox featured scientific calculations and testimonies from sailors who have dealt with extreme weather first-hand.

While this is a theoretical weather event, Fox called it 'the most powerful storm ever seen on Earth,' predicting it will form at the turn of the century and be named Hurricane Danielle. 

Multiple studies have shown climate change is ushering in a dark new era of 'mega-hurricanes,' prompting scientists to call for a unprecedented Category 6 hurricane designation. 

A Category 6 storm would bring winds of 192 miles per hour or higher and cause a rise in seawater exceeding 25 feet, experts predict. 

In his book, Fox says Hurricane Danielle would head straight for New York City, trekking through the slim channel between Staten Island and Brooklyn's Dyker Heights, which weathered Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

'Destruction will be on a scale never seen in the Northeast,' Fox wrote, 'more like a cyclone on the floodplains of India or Bangladesh than wind events in the tristate.' 

Fox's hypothetical 'Hurricane Danielle' would enter New York Harbor first, rattling the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge with brutally intense winds.

The wind would snap the span's three-​foot-​thick suspension cables and 'send both levels of the roadway into the lower bay.'

As the hurricane enters New York Harbor, the whole of Governors Island would be inundated by 'a wall of whitewater.' 

'Most windows in the Freedom Tower, built to withstand gusts up to two hundred miles per hour, will blow out,' according to Fox, ironically 'reducing its windage and likely saving the building.'

As flood waters rise, the city will quickly lose power, internet and cellphone service. Fox estimated that the death toll of Hurricane Danielle hitting the most populous US city would be around 42,000. 

'Thousands of families torn apart,' he writes. 'Hundreds of neighborhoods erased.' 

Mount Rainier Eruption 

Volcanologists say it is only a matter of time until Mount Rainier, arguably the most dangerous volcano in the US, unleashes on the Pacific Northwest. 

The huge, active stratovolcano looms some of the region's biggest cities. Nearly 90,000 people live within its danger zone, including residents of Seattle, Tacoma, and Yakima in Washington, as well as Portland, Oregon. 

Mount Rainier has not produced a significant eruption in more than 1,000 years, but experts keep a very close eye on it due to its potential to blow at any time and wreak widespread destruction.

'Mount Rainier keeps me up at night because it poses such a great threat to the surrounding communities,' Jess Phoenix, a volcanologist and ambassador for the Union of Concerned Scientists, said during an appearance on CNN.

When the volcano eventually blows, it won't be lava flows or choking clouds of ash that threaten surrounding cities, but lahars: violent, fast-moving mudflows that can tear across entire communities in a matter of minutes. 

Large lahars can crush, bury, or carry away almost anything in their paths, according to the US Geological Survey.

'Tacoma and South Seattle are built on 100-foot-thick ancient mudflows from eruptions of Mount Rainier,' Phoenix said. 

This is a strong indication that these populous cities lie within the path of potential lahars generated by a future eruption.

Over the last 20 years, scientists have been upgrading and expanding lahar monitoring stations around the volcano, collectively known as The Mount Rainier Lahar Detection System.

These new technologies have significantly improved the effectiveness of the system, allowing it to operate in real-time.

Cities near Mount Rainier are also honing emergency response strategies to prepare for a potential eruption.