“What if…” simulation

What if [a single extraordinary event] [hit / happened to] [a real place everybody knows] [at what moment, at what scale]?

[The real place] [time of day]: [three landmarks you recognize from above].

What if a 300 ft wave hit San Francisco on a Saturday afternoon in August?

Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco on an August Saturday: boats packed into the harbor, Coit Tower on its hill, the crowded Embarcadero.

What if the Moon passed 12,000 miles from Earth for a single night?

The Santa Monica Pier at dusk: the pier and its Ferris wheel, the beach stretching out of sight, the seafront and its parking lots.

What if all the traffic lights in New York failed at 6 p.m. on a Friday?

Times Square in New York at rush hour: the red staircase, the giant billboards, the crowded crossings, cars bumper to bumper.