Ten Worst Tragedies or Catastrophes to Occur in California

On April 18, 1906 at 5:12 am, the Bay Area was struck by a very shallow (5 mi deep) 7.9 quake that shook for about one minute. The exact location of the epicenter is still debated. The quake was felt from Oregon to Los Angeles. The quake caused massive fires throughout San Francisco and the surrounding areas that lasted several days. Downtown Santa Rosa was completely leveled and 80% of the city of San Francisco was completely destroyed. As many as 3,000 people were killed and around 300,000 out of a population of about 400,000 were left homeless. It has the highest death toll of all California natural disasters.

At the end of the game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas something similar to this event happens and also the game is set in 1992.

April 29 - May 4, 1992. Also known as the Rodney King Riots.

The buildup: After years of claims of police discrimination, abuse, corruption, racism and brutality from the L.A.P.D., the citizens of the nation was introduced to proof to the claims. On March 3, 1991 Rodney King along with two passengers sped off after a Highway Patrolman attempted a traffic stop on their vehicle. After fleeing from the C.H.P. along the freeway then surface streets, Rodney King came to a stop in a residential neighborhood. The Highway Patrol placed all three under arrest and had the two passengers cuffed and in the patrol car when five L.A.P.D., who were called in for back up during the chase, told the C.H.P. that they were taking tactical command of the situation. They then holstered their firearms then preceded to swarm and beat King who was the last one out of the car. They circled King tasering him numerous times, kicked and punched, and clobbered him repeatedly with their batons (33 times) using "power strokes". The beating was caught on film by a man from his apartment balcony. The cops tried to justify the beating by claiming they believed King was under the influence of PCP. Test later showed King had no PCP in his system. The 12 minute video of the beating was shown all over the local and nation media to a shocked and appalled public. Residents of Los Angeles and it's surrounding areas stressed that these kinds of police beatings are common. Because of the public outcry from the video four L.A.P.D. officers (one being a sergeant) ended up getting charged with assault and use of excessive force. Due to the high profile of the case, the lawyers representing the officers asked for and was granted a change of venue for the trail so that the officers get a "fair" trial. The trial was moved from Los Angeles county to Simi Valley in Ventura County. Simi Valley is an affluent, predominately white city. Also at the time tensions were high from the lean... more

January 17, 1994 at 4:30 am, a previously unknown fault, now named the Pico Thrust Fault, unleashed a 6.7 earthquake at a depth of 11 mi (18 km). The ground shook for around 20 seconds. The main shock was followed by two 6.0 aftershocks one of which collapsed a freeway transition overpass while a motorcycle cop was on it. The cop rode off and fell over 40ft to his death. This quake killed 61 people, injured over 8,700, and caused up to $44 billion in damages. There were many building collapses. An entire apartment complex collapsed in Northridge killing 16. Anaheim stadium's scoreboard fell onto the seats. The quake was felt as far as Las Vegas. Due to the early time of the quake and it happening on a federal holiday (Dr. Martin Luther King Day) a lot of lives were probably spared. The quake also caused an outbreak of Valley Fever due to airborne fungus spores being inhaled. Over 200 cases were reported with 3 resulting in death.

Even though I've been through bigger quakes magnitude wise, this was the gnarliest quake I've ever felt. The shaking was so violent. Depending on the type of fault, location and depth of the quakes, they produce different "feelings". Some feel like the ground is sliding on ice, some feel like repeated jolts, some feel like a steady long rumble and some feel like literal small waves under your feet. But this quake, man, it felt like a giant picked up my house and just shook the crap out of it.

October 8, 2017 - October 31, 2017. The most destructive wildfire ever in California. It was named The Tubbs Fire because of the street the fire was started on, Tubbs Lane. The fire scorched parts of Napa, Sonoma and Lake counties with the city of Santa Rosa being the most affected. The Tubbs Fire was one of fourteen large wildfires that broke out in Northern California during that October. Eight different counties were simultaneously burning by the combination of these fires which were dubbed "The Northern California Firestorm". The Tubbs Fire alone burned a total of 36,807 acres, destroyed 5,643 structures, took 43 lives and injured 1. Total cost of the damages - $1.2 billion. It is still unknown how the fire started.

On October 17, 1989 at 5:04 pm, a 6.9 earthquake struck the Bay area. The quake was about 12 mi (19 km) deep and was centered about 10mi northeast of Santa Cruz on a section of the San Andreas Fault. The shaking lasted around 10 - 15 seconds. The quake caused 63 deaths, injured 3,757 and caused $6 billion in damages. About 1.4 million people had no power for a little over two days. Some more interesting notes about the quake;
Because game 3 of the World Series was being televised live from San Francisco's Candlestick Park, this was the first earthquake to ever be broadcasted live across the nation.

The World Series that year was a "freeway series" between the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland A's. Many theorize that the death count would be a lot higher if the World Series wasn't on at the time. That's because the quake happened during rush-hour and traffic on the streets and freeways were a lot emptier then normal due to people getting off work early and/or rushing home to watch the game.

A lot of transportation structures suffered major damage. The worst was the double-deck Cypress Street Viaduct portion of Interstate 880. A 1.25 mile section of the upper deck of the freeway collapsed onto the bottom deck in Oakland. There were 42 deaths and many injuries at this site.

I saw an interview with a survivor who was trapped under the freeway in his crushed car. His story was really eerie. He said everything suddenly went black. He came to hearing injured/dying people moaning and an incredibly loud sound. When he got his wits back he realized the loud sounds were coming from the engines of the cars that were all crushed around him. It was all the cars engines being revved all the way up because the crushed people inside legs were all pressed down on the cars accelerators. He said the moans of the people eventually stopped after awhile but the car engines went on for many, many hours. He was the only survivor in that section of the collapse. I... more

September 25, 1978 at 9:01 am, a PSA flight 182 was approaching San Diego International Airport for landing it collided with a Cessna killing all 137 people between the two planes. An additional 7 people were killed on the ground as the planes came crashing down 3 miles from the airport in the suburban neighborhood of North Park. It is the deadliest plane crash in California history. NBC news in San Diego actually caught on film the Cessna in a nose dive spin before impacting the ground and the fireball explosion on impact. A photographer caught two shots of Flight 182 after the collision. One with the plane in a dive with it's right wing damaged and on fire. And another with the plane more engulfed in flames moments before slamming into the neighborhood at 300mph.

On July 18, 1984, a 41 year old psychopath named James Huberty kissed his wife goodbye and told her he was leaving to hunt humans. A short time later, at 3:56pm, he arrived at a McDonald's in the San Ysidro neighborhood of San Diego. He had a 9mm pistol, an Uzi, a 12 gauge shotgun and a bag full of ammo as he walked into the restaurant. He pointed the shotgun at a 16 year old employee and pulled the trigger but the gun misfired. The employee, named John Arnold, thought it was a joke and walked away while the assistant manager, 22 year old Neva Caine, walked towards the gunman. Huberty discharged his shotgun into the ceiling then pointed his Uzi at Caine shooting her once in the face killing her. He then shot Arnold with the shotgun in the chest wounding him. Huberty began screaming and cursing at the patrons. At that moment a 25 year old named Victor Rivera tried to plea with the gunman not to shot anybody else. Hubert shot Rivera 14 times while screaming "Shut up!" over and over as Rivera screamed while repeatedly being shot. The customers were all taking cover under tables and booths. Huberty turned his attention to a group of women and children huddled up together. He shot a 19 year old woman killing her with a single shot the chest with his Uzi. Then he shot a 9 year old boy 9 times (stomach, cheek, thigh, hip, leg, chest, back armpit and head) killing him. The 9 year old's 15 year old sister was wounded with a shot to the chest from his shotgun. Then again using his shotgun he shot at and wounded an 11 year old girl who was being shielded by her pregnant 18 year old aunt. Huberty then shot and killed the pregnant woman 48 times with his Uzi. The pregnant woman's 8 month old baby was screaming and crying next to his mother's bloody lifeless body. The scumbag shouted at then actually shot and killed the infant in the back with his handgun. Then Huberty walked around shooting and killing a 62 year old man. He got to the play area and started shooting at... more

October 19 - 20, 1991. Although a relatively small wildfire, burning only 1,520 acres (compared to California's largest wildfire, The Thomas Fire at 281,893 acres) it was the second most destructive wildfire in California. Killing at least 25, injuring over 150 and burning down 2,843 homes and 437 apartment and condominium units. The fire started as a small grass fire which the fire department responded to and put out...so they thought. After the firemen left the fire reignited and spread quickly due to the winds gusts that were at 65mph that day. The fire caused more than $1.5 billion in damages.

August 11-16, 1965.

The buildup: Los Angeles county had restrictions that banned African and Mexican Americans from renting or buying houses from certain neighborhoods and areas around the county. In 1910 these "certain areas" was 80% of the county. By the 1940's, 95% of all housing in Southern California was off limits to African and Asian Americans. These "restrictions" severely limited educational and economical opportunities to the African American community. Another major contributor to the riots was the passing of Proposition 14 which overturned the The Rumford Fair Housing Act which was designed to fix racial residential segregation. Added to that was police brutality. In 1950, William H. Parker was sworn in as Los Angeles chief of police. He created a militarized police force. He recruited a lot of his officers from the south who had racist tendencies. This led to a lot of claims of police discrimination and brutality from the minority communities.

The spark: On August 11, 1965 a 21 year old African American man named Marquette Frye was pulled over by the police for reckless driving. After failing a field sobriety test he was placed under arrest. His brother who was in the car with him walked to their house, which was down the street, and came back with their mother. From here there are many different stories about what actually happened. Most say mother was shoved to the ground and then his brother attacked the officer. The police, who had back up by then, did their typical L.A.P.D. beat down on the family before placing them under arrest. A crowd had gathered by then and began cursing and throwing rocks and bottles at the officers. As police tried to gain control and disburse the angry pedestrians, the mob just grew bigger and bigger.

The riot: Over 46 square miles of Los Angeles became a war zone for six days. By August 13, 2,300 National Guardsmen was called in. By the next night, 16,000 law enforcement personnel... more