Despite ‘Sharknado,’ mayor, fire officials say all’s well in L.A.
The social media storm created by the Syfy channel’s “Sharknado” movie engulfed another victim Friday morning: Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti.
“Looks like a great LA day today. Unless of course #sharknado is coming. Fingers crossed...” the mayor tweeted.
With a premise that seems borne from channel-surfing between the Weather and Discovery channels, “Sharknado” has drawn loving praise from across the Twitterverse for its low-budget effects and epically entertaining story line.
The combination of an absurd premise (tornadoes that rain sharks onto Southern California), green-screen special effects and Los Angeles inside jokes proved ripe Twitter snarkiness.
The first response to Garcetti came from @adamsteinbaugh: “@ericgarcetti now nobody will believe you when the real sharknado comes.”
But the Los Angeles County Fire Department did its best to assuage concerns, tweeting Friday afternoon: “can’t say how many requests we’ve had but yes. We have response plans for #Sharknado they are the same as any other multi-causality incident.”
The movie was heavy with references to L.A.’s notoriously clogged freeways and aversion to rain, all which made for an amusing experience for locals -- and the Almighty.
“Sharknados! Why didn’t I think of that?” tweeted @TheTweetOfGod, before offering up a bevy of potential “Sharknado” sequels including “Wolfcano,” “Bearnami,” “Hippoquake,” “Piranhurricane,” “Tarantulavalanche” and “Lizard Blizzard.”
KTLA-TV reporter Jennifer Gould polled her Twitter followers asking what animal-storm combo should be next.
Twitter user @OmarAzimi was quick with a suggestion: “Rabbitstorm - A killer storm on a small coastal town brings an invasion of mutant rabbits who terrorize the town residents.”
While we wait to see what elements of Mother Nature and the animal kingdom Syfy decides to marry next, prepare yourself. Given its success, “Sharknado” may end up in the channel’s permanent rotation.
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