Re. the weather ... as when considering other disasterish things, California is a Big Place. Weather-related disasters, like earthquakes, don't affect the whole state the same way. Current projections for El Nino effects, for instance, are more likely to come true in Southern California than in Northern, given the climate and ocean mechanisms involved - basically, the subtropical jet stream moves northward, so Central America has a drought but SoCal and Baja get soaked - and only in unusual cases (which the coming one *might* be) does it move far enough to seriously affect Northern California.

The old Fallbrook storm events (can't be sure; no suitable offshore records) might have been El Nino-related.

Driving Distance (travelmath.com): SF is about 380 miles from LA. Eureka is about 770 miles from San Diego. Big place. Not as big as Texas or Alaska, but still up there. For comparison, NYC to DC is about 230 miles; LA to Fresno is just over 220 miles, SF to Reno NV is slightly less than 220.