Earthquakes are common , and large-scale ones occur around every 300 years . The Cascadia earthquake of 1700 — estimated at 8.7 – 9.2 on the moment magnitude scale — caused a tsunami to sweep across California , Oregon , Washington , and British Columbia , reaching Japan the next day . It was produced when the entire Cascadia subduction zone , about long , slipped approximately in a megathrust event . Another major earthquake occurred in 1873 near present-day Brookings . With a magnitude of 7.3 , the quake was felt from Seattle to San Francisco . Wind is also a factor in the region ; storms can sometimes reach over . The Columbus Day Storm of 1962 brought devastating winds to nearly all of Oregon ; nearby Port Orford recorded gusts exceeding . The storm killed 38 people across the state and caused over $ 200 million worth of damage . The watershed often experiences wildfires , some of them major . The Biscuit Fire of 2002 burned over of the Kalmiopsis Wilderness and surrounding regions
Cascadia earthquake of 1700
1700 Cascadia earthquake
Chetco River