'Hurriquake' Hot Takes After 5.1 Magnitude Earthquake Hits Los Angeles Area During Hurricane Hilary

As Southern Californians were riding out the remnants of Hurricane Hilary on Sunday afternoon, phones across the region blared with an emergency warning that some (including this writer) thought would be a flood warning or somehow related to the rainy, windy weather - but instead, it was a Shake Alert warning of a magnitude 6.0 earthquake about to hit.

And hit it did, about 15-30 seconds later in my estimation.

It came in 30 seconds before it hit us - I'm now a believer. I was sitting in my bed watching TV so I didn't have to move, but it was a good shake #earthquake pic.twitter.com/EzB6wbRrvl
— Jennifer Van Laar (@jenvanlaar) August 20, 2023

Initial reporting from the USGS is that it was a 5.1 magnitude earthquake centered 4 miles south of Ojai, in Ventura County, or about 20 miles from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley.

Angelenos took to Twitter to discuss, check in with each other, and share descriptions of the type of shake they felt, and a new term was born: The Hurriquake.

We present you with RedState's Hot Takes: California Hurriquake Edition:

Writers are on strike so this is the best mother nature could come up with. #hurriquake pic.twitter.com/B5fQQsoPrW
— Filup Molina (@filupmolina) August 20, 2023

I bet she knew that #hurriquake was coming all along pic.twitter.com/3Th1twt88C
— sai | simon (@SaiB0i) August 20, 2023

God was tired of us in Cali and said #hurriquake pic.twitter.com/aHj4ayhP57
— SolSurvivor (@omarbustamove) August 20, 2023

LA is one step closer to this #hurriquake pic.twitter.com/2EaHgPTDS4
— Michael Kentrell Brown 💜ﾒ𝟶 (@breezybetter07) August 20, 2023

The Hurricane was coming in all cute like 'Am I drama? Purrr!' and then those tectonic plates were like 'Hold my drink, girl.' #Hurriquake
— Grace Edwards (@gracyact) August 20, 2023

Merriam-Webster chimed in:

‘Hurriquake’ is a new one for us, too.
— Merriam-Webster (@MerriamWebster) August 20, 2023

But apparently Urban Dictionary posted about the possibility back in 2010.

Urban dictionary called it in 2010. #Hurriquake pic.twitter.com/opilg2f5xT
— TVMoJoe (@TVMoJoe) August 20, 2023

While those of us in Los Angeles were very happy when Kobe and Shaq learned to play together, perhaps this hurricane and earthquake collab isn't what Hollywood needs.

the #Hurricane and #earthquake teaming up in LA rn 😭😭😭 #hurriquake pic.twitter.com/8LrNXiRjqB
— Hakim 💅💅💅 (@hak33msalt) August 20, 2023

This all just happened today. #HurricaneHilary #earthquake #hurriquake pic.twitter.com/MML7miB3wF
— 🦄🦋✨ (@xxyuukgaejangxx) August 20, 2023

California didn’t want the world to forget what we are really known for
— Marnie Lopez (@marniekaylopez) August 20, 2023

The heaviest rains from the remnants of Hilary are now hitting the Los Angeles area, and a few of our California-based RedState writers have already figured out that their home has roof or window leaks. So, we're praying that God doesn't decide to take it up a notch as the center of the storm comes through tonight.