What would happen if Los Angeles County vanished?

[Mark Rand]

On a rainy night in May of 2004, the unthinkable happened. L.A. County vanished. One moment it was there, the next, it wasn't, and the Pacific Ocean was poring in where it had been. Those with magical sensitivity, would've felt something when it vanished.

 

Aside from the panic, and tabloids not having all those celebrity stories to print, what would happen? Principally, I'm asking for physical effects on the planet, but if you have other ideas, post them.

[Hermit]

Re: What would happen if Los Angeles County vanished?

 

Not sure about 'physical' effects.

 

However, some aspects of the economy would certainly be shaken. I imagine Americans would demand full investigation from the government. When millions of friends, relatives, and loved ones go poof, those outside are going to want to know why. They're going to be angry, scared, and bitter. Any superheroes in the campaign setting are going to be expected to solve this as well.

[Checkmate]

Re: What would happen if Los Angeles County vanished?

 

...and there was much rejoycing...

[Beast]

Re: What would happen if Los Angeles County vanished?

 

Vancouver and Toronto become the new Hollywood

San Diego and San Fran vie to become the major seaport

no need to send water over the mountians to socal

 

now on a personal not

was LA county destroyed or sent to some other dimension and we are the last vestage of humanity vs the alien zombie horde

 

I'm on my way out the door now so this will help with shopping

[Mark Rand]

Re: What would happen if Los Angeles County vanished?

 

Vancouver and Toronto become the new Hollywood

San Diego and San Fran vie to become the major seaport

no need to send water over the mountians to socal

 

now on a personal not

was LA county destroyed or sent to some other dimension and we are the last vestage of humanity vs the alien zombie horde

 

I'm on my way out the door now so this will help with shopping

 

L.A. County was sent to a demon dimension.

 

Anyone know when the urban fantasy book's coming out? That one's on my "buy asap" list.

[aylwin13]

Re: What would happen if Los Angeles County vanished?

 

I'm not a seismologist, but I would have to guess that removing that sized chunk of the Earth's crust would have a huge effect on the fault lines that pass through So Cal. The sudden release of pressure on the tectonic plates would result in some massive earthquakes. Probably strong enough to be felt in neighboring states.

[Tech]

Re: What would happen if Los Angeles County vanished?

 

...everyone would be happy?

[BoloOfEarth]

Re: What would happen if Los Angeles County vanished?

 

Grafiti artists changes street signs to read "LosT Angeles".

 

A lot of surfer doods look at it and say, "Another beach! Cool!"

 

After a few days, the demons send it back, saying, "Man, those LA people are PSYCHOS!"

 

On a more serious note:

 

The aforementioned earthquakes and economic impact.

 

Possible panics in other nearby cities from people fearing the same thing will happen to their city.

[Hermit]

Re: What would happen if Los Angeles County vanished?

 

True. Expect a lot of "These are the end times" panics from more than just one group

[sinanju]

Re: What would happen if Los Angeles County vanished?

 

The State of California would suffer a potentially catastrophic loss of income. All those millionaire movie stars as well as all the film and television studios would be gone. Just gone. Admittedly, the state wouldn't be saddled with search & rescue or recovery operation costs--not like a disaster that _destroyed_ the county--but they'd lose a huge chunk of expected operating revenue.

 

As for Vancouver and Toronto becoming the "New Hollywood." Maybe--but it would take a while. As far as I know, all the Hollywood series and movies filming in those locations are still mostly funded by the studios...back in Hollywood. And the money tap has just been cut off. A lot of abruptly unemployed actors, crew, writers, directors, producers are gonna be looking for work.

[Querysphinx]

Re: What would happen if Los Angeles County vanished?

 

Earthquakes and fault lines would depend upon how DEEP this hole is. You say the sea in pouring in, but if it's only fifty feet or so the planet goes "meh?" and settles back into its normal rhythm. If it's really deep (depth in miles) then you've got bigger issues with tectonic plates and quite possibly volcanoes.

[Vulcan]

Re: What would happen if Los Angeles County vanished?

 

Not sure about 'physical' effects.

 

However, some aspects of the economy would certainly be shaken. I imagine Americans would demand full investigation from the government. When millions of friends, relatives, and loved ones go poof, those outside are going to want to know why. They're going to be angry, scared, and bitter. Any superheroes in the campaign setting are going to be expected to solve this as well.

 

Agreed. I'd be missing a sister. And very uspet about it.

[Mark Rand]

Re: What would happen if Los Angeles County vanished?

 

Earthquakes and fault lines would depend upon how DEEP this hole is. You say the sea in pouring in' date=' but if it's only fifty feet or so the planet goes "meh?" and settles back into its normal rhythm. If it's really deep (depth in miles) then you've got bigger issues with tectonic plates and quite possibly volcanoes.[/quote']

 

The depth where the land vanished is 100 feet below mean sea level.

[Mark Rand]

Re: What would happen if Los Angeles County vanished?

 

The State of California would suffer a potentially catastrophic loss of income. All those millionaire movie stars as well as all the film and television studios would be gone. Just gone. Admittedly, the state wouldn't be saddled with search & rescue or recovery operation costs--not like a disaster that _destroyed_ the county--but they'd lose a huge chunk of expected operating revenue.

 

As for Vancouver and Toronto becoming the "New Hollywood." Maybe--but it would take a while. As far as I know, all the Hollywood series and movies filming in those locations are still mostly funded by the studios...back in Hollywood. And the money tap has just been cut off. A lot of abruptly unemployed actors, crew, writers, directors, producers are gonna be looking for work.

 

Got to agree with you on the potentially catastrophic lose of income. As far as funding from the studios goes, aren't most of them owned by companies in New York City?

 

Reality and game shows might be on the rise. Some could be filmed anywhere. All they need is studio and office space. One of my favorites, the new American Gladiators could even be taped here in Pittsburgh.

[Comic]

Re: What would happen if Los Angeles County vanished?

 

A tsunami would be almost certain.

 

Its size, scope and scale would be indeterminate, and it could be anything from 'wipes out the population of the Pacific Rim' to 'no one notices'

 

Tectonic effects might be later -- from hours to years.

 

Atmospheric effects, as the most automobile-intensive county on the continent went away.. may improve.

 

OTOH, there's not a few conduits, pipelines, irrigation channels and so forth that would be left wide open and draining into that 100' deep gulch, too.

 

Nuclear reactors in the area? I'm not sure, but could be worth checking on.

 

Wealth.. The loss of the wealth in the county vs. the redistribution of the wealth held by those who live in the county is small, and the stimulus effect may be overall beneficial to the economy -- though tragic for those directly involved.

 

Now, the politics of hell, should 30 million Los Angelenos suddenly appear.. that'd be pretty interesting. I imagine the underworld would go all to heck.

[Querysphinx]

Re: What would happen if Los Angeles County vanished?

 

The depth where the land vanished is 100 feet below mean sea level.

 

Same thing as 50 feet. There would probably be some flooding (water has momentum). A few minor local earthquakes. And the rotation of the Earth would probably increase by a few microseconds.

[Egyptoid]

Re: What would happen if Los Angeles County vanished?

 

dancing in the streets of Gaza and Teheran

[Drhoz]

Re: What would happen if Los Angeles County vanished?

 

not being familiar with the topography in that area, would the hole make a good harbour?

 

assuming that they can't get the county back, and hey, no point letting all that new coastline go to waste.

 

re Earthquakes - *certainly* You'ld get earthquakes - merely draing an oil reservoir over decades can trigger tremor swarms

[mikesama]

Re: What would happen if Los Angeles County vanished?

 

I have to at least partially disagree with the economic outcomes, yes california will have a loss of revenue but not as horrible as expected as one would think thanks to the fact that money in banks is held more virtually than anything and as long as record exist you've at least still got your money.

[Basil]

Re: What would happen if Los Angeles County vanished?

 

30.48 meters deep over an area of 10,517.61 sq km gives a mass of water (assuming sg=1; it's slightly higher, but so what) of about 3.206 * 10^11 metric tons. Which is going to pick up a lot of speed crossing that hole. When it hits the far northeast corner, it's going to 'bounce' back, and that will cause trouble. Here's a map of LA county so you can see what we're talking about.

 

Oh, and most of LA County's boundaries are well above sea level. When that hole appears, the freshly cut edges are going to 'slump' into the hole. In some places, from hundreds of meters up. So that will shake the ground fairly hard. Which is bound to set off earthquakes, possibly major ones.

[Guest Major Tom]

Re: What would happen if Los Angeles County vanished?

 

Speaking strictly on a cinematic and gaming level, the end result of that much

landmass suddenly disappearing would probably look like what happened in the

opening minutes of 10.5: Apocalypse -- tsunami waves large enough to

capsize and sink ocean liners or other large vessels, not to mention wiping out

much of the coastline of the Hawaiian Islands (as well as any other Pacific

island chain).

 

 

 

Major Tom

[Tigereye]

Re: What would happen if Los Angeles County vanished?

 

I think it would go something like this...

 

Lex Luthor: Fall into the sea. [With a little wave] Bye bye California. Hello new west coast. My west coast. [overlays map with new map] Costa Del Lex. Luthorville. Marina del Lex. Otisburg-- "Otisburg"?

Otis: Miss Tessmacher said. She has her own little place.

Lex Luthor: "Otisburg"?

Otis: It's a little bitty place!

Lex Luthor: [angrily] "Otisburg"?

[gmurie]

Re: What would happen if Los Angeles County vanished?

 

dancing in the streets of Gaza and Teheran

 

Actually no, one of the largest populations of Iranians outside of Iran is in LA county. So a lot of Iranians would lose their loved ones as well as a satelite TV station or two IIRC.

 

There's just massive immigrant populations there generally. People all over the world would lose someone or know someone who lost someone.

 

The air in southern California would get a lot more breathable. Also, Southern California's power grid would have a lot of excess capacity all of a sudden. There'd be blackouts all over the place when a big chunk of the grid and its control systems just disappear.

 

For that matter, big chunks of the Internet would disappear as well. Any servers were in LA and didn't have off site replication would go bye.

[Beast]

Re: What would happen if Los Angeles County vanished?

 

this would only happen if the mountains surrounding the LA basin went with the city

this basin was known as the valley of smoke long before any city was founded

the natural tendancy of air flow is an onshore flow(the wind blows from the sea to shore) and acts as a cork keeping the dust and smoke in

now when the Santa Ana's pick up it cleans the air up in a day or 2 but is not the normal air flow

 

yes smog would be down but you will have other stuff going up

also there will be a oil leaking from the La Brea tarpits

 

 

The air in southern California would get a lot more breathable. Also, Southern California's power grid would have a lot of excess capacity all of a sudden. There'd be blackouts all over the place when a big chunk of the grid and its control systems just disappear.

 

For that matter, big chunks of the Internet would disappear as well. Any servers were in LA and didn't have off site replication would go bye.

[casualplayer]

Re: What would happen if Los Angeles County vanished?

 

Nationwide catastrophe. The Port of Los Angeles is HUGE, biggest and busiest in the country. No capacity to pick up the slack, and the import hub of China and Mexico (and India and Taiwan and Australia and Indonesia and so on) just goes poof!

 

Someone would get blamed, rightly or wrongly. Someone would have to pay, guilty or not guilty.

 

Just depends on how Iron your game is.