1811–1812 New Madrid earthquakes
Even today, earthquakes happen in this area, known as the New Madrid Seismic Zone (or NMSZ). Scientists think that before 2050 there is a chance of over 90% that quakes with a magnitude of over 7.0 on the Richter scale will occur there. Arthur C. Clarke wrote a story called Richter 10, where he describes a scenario like this.