The "Great Quake" of 1978

One of the United States greatest tragedies turned out to be San Diablo's birth.
In 1978, two nuclear rockets were being transported to a site for testing.  Along the way, the transport was delayed as the drivers assisted a honeymooning couple who had been in a car accident.  It is said that sometime during this transport, some codes for the rockets were "glitched", possibly due to a short in the system.
Once the rockets were deployed, instead of launching and exploding in safe zones, the two rockets split off, one heading directly to the dessert connection between New Mexico and California, and the other for Hackensack, New Jersey.  While a great deal of documentation has been covered for the utter destruction of Hackensack, here we are focusing on the results of the other missle.
The second rocket struck at the exact perfect point on the San Adreas faultline to cause an apocolypic level earthquake. A magnitude 9.2 earthquake struck the San Andreas Fault in a catastrophic rupture that not only devastated the region but also fundamentally changed the relationship between California and the rest of the continental United States. This article explores the earthquake's aftermath, the geological implications, and the broader socio-political consequences of a California detached from the contiguous United States.
The earthquake lasted for a staggering ten minutes, shaking buildings to their foundations and unleashing chaos across the state. Ground ruptures, landslides, and tsunamis battered coastal communities, while major cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco suffered extensive structural damage. The human toll was severe: thousands perished, and millions were left homeless. Emergency services struggled to respond as communication networks collapsed and infrastructure disintegrated.
The epicenter of the quake was located near the town of Parkfield, a region that had long been regarded as a potential site for a major earthquake due to the San Andreas Fault's complex geology. However, no one could have anticipated the magnitude of the disaster that would unfold.
In the wake of the initial quake, further seismic activity rocked the region. Over the next several weeks, a series of aftershocks shattered previously held records, significantly contributing to the on-going geological transformation of California’s topography. Geologists soon realized that the tectonic forces at play had caused a permanent rupture along the San Andreas Fault. In an unprecedented development, the western segment of California began to separate from the continental United States. By early May 1978, satellite imagery revealed a striking visual transformation: the coastline had shifted dramatically, creating new oceanic waterways where land once existed. This geological rift resulted in an archipelago-like formation, isolating California from the mainland by nearly 50 miles in some areas.
Once the split occurred, new cities began to form from the aftermath, including San Diablo and Otisberg.

Localization

The entire San Adreas fault line, ultimately creating a new coastline.