How/when would this happen and what would the near term effect be

In maybe 15 years the Sun will emit a Carrington event level extreme flare, which will wipe out all electric and electronic technology. Then in about 25 years it will explode in a recurrent (ca. 12k years cycle) micro-nova, which will bombard the Earth with uncountable, sometimes large, impactors. The EMP will be sufficient to unlock the magnetically-locked crust of our planet, making it "free floating" on the inner layers. The poles are heavier, due to the ice buildup, and so they will rotate to the equators in a fraction of a day, but the oceans and winds will keep running in their own direction. 1000 MPH tsunamis and winds will destroy most of what's left from the impactors, cosmic rays, extreme temperatures, etc.

But since this happens every 12,000 years or so, there always remain at least a few individuals of most species and so Life will go on, on a drastically changed Earth. Also, volcanoes and of course an ice age, since all this stuff will create a lot of opacity in our atmosphere, cooling the planet terribly. But, like every other time before, we will find a way.

The so-called "elites" know this, which is why they are building rockets, hoping to somehow escape the worst of it. Musk talks about "maybe something might happen" when he KNOWS PRECISELY that this is on schedule.