One of the big problems in dealing with any potential disaster is knowledge. Can you imagine living in Florida in the 1800s, when the only warning you’d get of a pending hurricane were the clouds on the horizon? By then, you’d have mere hours of warning before the wrath of that storm fell upon you. Not exactly much time to get ready is it?
Then there are the disasters that happen without any warning, like an earthquake. One moment, everything is fine and the next moment you’re fearing for your life, while wondering if the earth is going to stop moving under you.
An EMP is something like that earthquake, in that there would be no warning, unless it were to be in the rhetoric we heard coming out of Pyongyang or Tehran.
We wouldn’t see the missile that was carrying the nuke up into the upper atmosphere and we probably wouldn’t receive any notification about it from our new Space Force. Rather, the lights would just go out, along with everything else.
On the surface, it would look just like any other power outage. So what do you do?
Verify That It Was an EMP
The first thing any of us is going to have to do is verify that it really is an EMP that we’re dealing with and not just a normal power outage.
Typically, we all look outside, checking to see if our neighbors are having the same problem we are. After that, we might call a friend or family member, seeing if the power is out where they are too.
But even if we do manage to get through, that’s not going to be enough to make a determination.
We can’t expect an announcement from FEMA telling us what’s happening. For that matter, we can’t expect anything else out of FEMA or any other federal agency. I imagine they’ll all be trying to survive the situation, just like we will. So how can we find out?
Related: How to Tell in 5 Minutes If It’s a Power Outage or an EMP and Get a Massive Head Start
The best test for an EMP is to check services which are required by law to have backup power to see if they are operational, such as:
- Radio stations
- City water (water may exist for a while, due to water in towers)
- Telephone service (landline)
If these are all out, then chances are that it was an EMP, which would have taken out their power generators and other electronics, while it was taking out everything else. Some larger chains of stores, like Wal-Mart and some of the grocery chains also have their own backup generators for power, so if they are dark, we can assume that their generators went out too.
Keep in mind that there’s always the possibility that some of those generators could still be working, even with an EMP.
Most are installed in steel cases, which can serve as an effective Faraday Cage if the generator inside the case isn’t touching the case.
You’ve got to look at the overall picture and make an evaluation based on that.
Okay, so you decide that it’s really an EMP; then what do you do?
Get Your Family Together
Once you know that it really is an EMP and not just another power outage, it’s time to put your family’s survival plan into effect. That starts with gathering your family together at your home. If your vehicles are still running, this shouldn’t be much of a problem; but if they are toast, you may find yourself forced to walk all the way home from work. I hope you have your get home bag in the trunk.
Chances are that you won’t be able to contact your family in any way, other than by physically going to wherever they are.
Again, that’s not a big deal if your vehicle is running; but we can’t be sure that they will be.
I’d recommend having a standing part of your plan be that if the schools ever make an announcement that an EMP has happened, your children find a way to ditch class and head for home.
It’s doubtful that there will be many preppers heading for a cabin in the woods at this time. Few of us even own such a thing; but even if we did, getting there would be a problem. So it will be time to hunker down at home for your survival.
Gather Last Minute Supplies
In every scenario I’ve seen, it’s assumed that people will rush the grocery stores, grabbing whatever they can, usually without paying. Panic will cause looting to become rampant, even to the point where food is destroyed by being trampled underfoot.
But even if that scenario plays out, it will take some time for it to start. Most people won’t realize that the power is out due to an EMP, so they won’t rush to the store for a day or two.
Related: Are Store Shelves Empty in Your Area Too?
This gives you and I an opportunity to get to the stores before them and do some last minute stockpiling. Granted, you’ve probably already got a good stockpile in your home; but whatever you have clearly won’t be enough to last you the rest of your life. So you might as well get whatever you can.
Plan on needing cash for this purchasing excursion, as the internet will be down, which will mean that you can’t use your credit or debit cards. The cash registers won’t be working either, so add up your purchases as you go. That way, you can tell the people running the store how much you got.
Even if they don’t believe you, it will at least be a starting point for negotiations.
You shouldn’t limit your thinking to just food here. Some gas stations have backup power, just like the big stores do. While there’s a good chance that those generators will be out, keep your eyes open as you shop. If you see one open, be sure to top off the tanks.
Deal with Frozen Food
If you’re anything like me, you’ve got a freezer full of meat. The freezer will keep that meat frozen for a good 24 hours, even without electricity; perhaps longer if it is cold out. But after that, it will start thawing and will either have to be cooked and eaten or dehydrated.
Jerky is one of my favorite things and I have a dehydrator at home. Along with my off-grid battery backup system, I’ll still be able to do at least some dehydrating of that meat. But even though I have a large dehydrator, it’s not big enough to handle everything. For that, I need a large solar dehydrator as well.
Related: The 10-Dollar Jerky Maker
If you don’t have enough capacity for dehydration, then consider doing what the American Indians did and hang strips of meat over wood poles to dry in the sun.
As long as the meat has been soaked in brine before hanging it out to dry, it will be protected from bacteria and won’t go bad. Since marinating meat before drying it is a normal part of making jerky, that shouldn’t be an issue.
Some other frozen foods can be canned, especially vegetables. But there are some foods, like ice cream, which will either have to be eaten or disposed of. I’m sure if you ask your children, they’ll give you the solemn advice that it is better to eat that ice cream, than see it go to waste.
Get More Meat
If there’s one thing that’s usually short in our survival stockpiles, it’s meat. Buying meat is expensive, especially the freeze-dried meat that’s packaged for survival food. So we stock a minimal amount, expecting to do something about it after the disaster strikes. But what?
I know this might sound a little out of place; but if you live close to some good hunting grounds, you might want to fit a quick hunting trip in, after you’ve hit the stores and before everyone panics.
Many others will turn to hunting for food, greatly diminishing the game population.
Even if it would be considered poaching, going before them will give you an opportunity to stock up on meat, while it is available.
Another thing to consider, especially if you have a truck and plenty of cash on hand, is to find a local farmer or rancher and buy a steer, pig or whatever else they’re raising. This is usually cheaper than buying meat at the grocery store anyway, and may be your last chance to make that purchase. There’s a good chance that whatever government is still in existence will confiscate that meat for the public good.
Don’t forget that you’re going to need to preserve all this meat one way or another. Chances are, you’re going to have to use a combination of all available means; canning, smoking and dehydrating to ensure that none of it goes to waste. So your family is going to be very busy, while everyone else is coming to grips with what’s going on.
When it comes time to use that meat, eat the smoked meat first. It will not last as long as the other preserved meat, so you want to use it before it can go bad.
Get All the Water You Can
Municipal water authorities build water towers to alleviate stress on their systems during peak usage hours. At the same time, the towers help maintain water pressure, as the gravity feed of the water from the tower creates that pressure.
What this means is that water might still be flowing for a while after an EMP, even without their generators running. But it won’t be flowing for long.
Taking advantage of that, you’ll want to fill up every water container you can find, ensuring that your family is going to have water to use.
Related: 10 Off-Grid Water Systems You Should Have On Your Property
While that still won’t be enough, at least it will be water that you don’t have to purify, before using.
Put Defenses in Place
Most of us have little in the way of passive defenses in our homes. We don’t build barricades and booby traps to keep people out.
Part of that is the inconvenience of having such things around our homes and part is because setting booby traps is illegal. Nevertheless, if you have such things as part of your defensive strategy, this is the time to use them.
That doesn’t mean that you need to rush into setting such things up.
It will be a few days before people start to panic and possibly as long as two weeks before anyone tries breaking into homes in search of food. Better to put these items into place slowly, so as to not attract attention, rather than making a show of fortifying your home.
Share the News
You might be the only one in your neighborhood or even your town who figures out what’s going on. While most people have heard of an EMP, they really don’t understand it.
Not only that, but they aren’t thinking of the reality of an EMP strike, like you and I are. When it happens, they won’t accept it until someone tells them what’s happening. That someone might be you.
Start out with your friends and neighbors, suggesting that they do the things you are, buying up food and filling containers with water. These are the people who will most likely come knocking on your door. Everything you can get them to do for themselves elongates the amount of time before they start asking you for help.
On that, you might want to consider organizing your neighborhood as a survival team. Part of my survival planning is several hundred pounds of rice and beans, over and above what I have for my family’s consumption.
While that might not be much; it will give them something to eat, keeping body and soul together. I also have a goodly stockpile of seed, with the idea that I will be able to help my neighbors start growing their own food.
While this may look like charity, it’s really more a form of enlightened self-interest. If I can help my neighbors help themselves, I will be able to keep them from begging from me or stealing food from my garden. So not only will they be better off, but I will be too.
But your friends and neighbors aren’t the only ones you have a responsibility to inform about what’s happening; you should tell your city’s authorities as well. They probably don’t know you; so make sure you go prepared, with the information that they’ll need.
That includes information about the technicalities of what an EMP is, what it does, and what the prognosis for the future is. Don’t be surprised if they ask for your advice, even if they don’t follow it.
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So don’t live in town got it….
Giving food to random neighbors will make you a target .
People will panic day one hour one.
The EMP shock will take from six to twenty four hours to set in. That is the time you will have to get ready for mass hysterics to set in. Then all civilization is gone in cities and large towns. You will have time to place whatever defenses you have devised that blends in with your land. Do nothig obvius, or all the attenton will be drawn to you. You can distibute old MRE’s to neighbrs in return for their cooperation in the future, but if they never have been inside your home, don’t let them see anything. Hand stuff out the back door that is not visible from the street. Small quantities only, because everyone has a stash of some favorite foods that they probably still have. Be careful of “trusted” friends or family, because they can turn into your worse enemies in a heartbeat. Run generators only at night, and only if they are placed out of sight. Solar cells only on the roof, never on a stand or side of your house where easily seen. An old truck built before 1977 is your best bet, leave the rust patina on it to make it look junky/useless. It has no computers to fry, so it will run. Mine has the ethanol/gas mix in the tank for over a year, and it starts readily every time. Park it behind bushes or a tree, but not under them as the trash falling on it will eat paint or metal. Change oil at least every year, run it every month to keep acids and moisture from building up in the oil. Always check tire pressures, as you may need it in a hurry, watch for dry rotted rubber on the tires, cover them from the sun with old plywood to protect them from UV rays on BOTH sides. If a tire is more than 5 years old – replace them. The body should be rattle can sprayed with Earth toned colors leaving drips and runs that will conceal its value to others. Rust spots, controlled with uv stabilized clear coat adds to the useless look. Add 2 cycle oil to the gas so that it smells crappy and smokes if you run it, a 100 to 1 mixture will not hurt anything, nor overheat the catalytic converter if it is still on the exhaust system. 2 cycle oil is an excellent top cylinder lube and fuel pump lube. 5 or 6 ounces to a 20 gallon tank will do. For you in the “rust belt”, check the frame occasionally for weaknesses, and weld reinforcements on weak spots.
Keep your bug out bag minus perishables in that truck
Guns? Hide a protected rifle in either .22 lr or .308 inside the back of the seat, or an over/under .22lr/.410 bore survival combo. Make sure that it is invisible to traffic stops. Keep your everyday carry in a hidden below waist belt holster, but keep extra mags out of sight beneath the dash where not seen, but easily grabbed.
On your daily driver – show no bumper stickers at all! You want to blend in, disappear, be invisible to others, draw no attention. Keep your EDC bag with three days rations (full rations, you may be on foot and on the run), keep spare hiking shoes as your city shoes rip or wear out. Keep weight to 40lbs or less because you may not be in shape at all.
Retireds, plan on bugging in, your meds and “appliances” are not built for overland movement. I am one of you. Ask your doctor when dangers lurk in the news to prescribe basic meds for many months “for war”. I have an older doctor about my age that already has done so. You might invest in the “lost ways” books, especially on herbal remedies. I’ve tried them, they work. I bought an extra copy for my Doctor, he ACTUALLY READ IT!!! He outlined the pasages that apply to me! Amazing.
Oh, and get a book on crystal radios, they work without batteries. You can keep youself informed even after there are no batteries left to use. Besides, you may find that building one or two may become a hobby, listening to stations from far away. One for AM stations, and one for Shortwave stations. Books are avalable on many online stores, Amazon, Thriftbooks, eBay, etc. on how to build them out of scraps found around your home. I have a 40 year junkbox from my Amateur Radio hobby. Some rather pricey kits are available from the U.K., Germany, Poland and Japan if you do not want to chase parts and can afford the prices .
That is all from Southern Alabama!
Fred: I’m sending for the books, and cussing myself for not buying new ones. Someone asked for what I had and I gave them to him.
I’m not concerned about solar because they’re very common in Arizona and getting moreso. If family in the Sierras 200 miles south of me has solar, then we’d be stupid not to. Their idea of a road would scar mules, not just scare them 🙂
Tiendas sell a lot of stuff popular with preppers because they grew up in poverty. Dried beef is $25/lb. Dried, not jerky. Chicharones (deep-fried meat) packed in lard $8/lb. (this isn’t just meat, but spices and some fruit like chilis). Carne asada (beef) cooked, seasoned, shredded and dried is 10/lb.
No old trucks available. Kids snap them up and fix them. Ranchers use them till they’re so worn out even cattle laugh at them. I drive a 2009 8 cylinder and get good mileage, but know it’s vulnerable. Still, Silverados are common here. I had a ’55 International that ran like a top, but the body was wasted. At that time I was in PA and libs there demand the peasants drive only the best. when the cash comes in, buying trip to PA to grab good-running junkers from cousins farming there. A brother-in-law can rent a trailer for me and haul 6 or more at a time.
Keep it in your prayers that all ungodly protection of liberal politicians be destroyed. We’ve been doing that for a few years and look at the disaster the libs are in, with their own screaming hate at them. niio
another “I’ll go to the mall” prepper naivity about the “best” SHTF of all >>> EMP === NUKE BLAST !!!!!
if the EMP came from a terrorist attack – ala “One Second After” – which is highly unlikely >>> you still got radiation besides the local blast effects ….
more than likely an enhanced EMP nuke strike will proceed a full nuke strike by minutes if not seconds – better get real about an EMP SHTF event !!!!
An EMP attack will detonate approximately 30 miles above, not on the ground and the intent is to disable the resources, not the entire land for 100 years.
Any detonation of a nuclear device results in an electromagnetic pulse. Ground bursts and simple air bursts would cause very localized EMP damage only. Ground bursts are used to maximize ground penetration (think missile silos) or fallout, and air bursts are used to maximize destruction of buildings and other manmade structures. Think urban areas, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, for example, and military installations such as airfields).
No reputable source concludes that there will be nuclear radiation from a nation-sponsored EMP attack on the US. Any country attacking the US will be able to launch the nuclear device well above the altitude that would spread radiation to the countryside below. Doing so maximizes the EMP’s effectivness.
Perhaps a terrorist group (or maybe Spectre 🙂 ) might detonate a low altitude EMP device, but doing so would be because of the inability to launch the device to a higher and more efficient altitude.
After the 1994 Northridge Earthquake, a friend went to his local supermarket, which was owned by one of the regional chains in Southern California. In the early morning hours, the store manager stood at the door and asked each person what they wanted. He wrote down the list and handed it to an employee inside the store who then rounded up the items and brought them to the door. No customer was allowed to enter the store. Payment had to be in cash because the lack of electricity meant no credit or debit cards could be processed.
Anyone without cash at home will be up a creek without a paddle after an EMP attack. For the first few days, at least, cash will likely be accepted until people slowly begin to realize that they are selling valuable goods for worthless paper.
And then, that may be the point where junk silver shines.
Have there been any recorded emp events say within the last fifty years? Man made or natural? If so, what was learned from them? Would love to see recorded data from first hand experiences that can truly teach us.
possibly one during the vietnam war. some solar flare damage in europe. some equipment damage during nuke testing in pacific.
Operation Starfish Prime by the US in the Pacific. Accidental EMP affected Hawaii.
Read about “Starfish Prime” from the early 1960’s and the EMP report from the Feds in 2004.
Operation Starfish but not during the last 50 years. From my creaky antique recollection it was at the Bikini Atoll and in the 60s sometime. It blacked out lights in Hawaii which was 700 miles away. The Russians did one sometime around then too but, of course, the results are buried somewhere deep in the Kremlin.
You must bear in mind that it is only in the last 20 years that we have become so dependent on GPS and computers that have put us in such jeopardy from an EMP or even a CME, speaking of which earth was bathed in a class G2 solar storm last week as a result of a series of G class CMEs from a very active sunspot.
Electromagnet pulses are all man made. The kind of activity that we get from sun spots is called solar storms and the eruptions that cause solar storms are called coronal mass ejections.
If you go back through the archives which can be reached from the button called “all articles” you will see these topics have been discussed in detail on several occasions. Or you could go on line and research coronal mass ejections and solar storms. The first mention I found of them was a book dealing with the crusades and it mentioned that the crusaders (and the saracens too) noticed aurora borealis while laying siege to the town of Aleppo in Syria. That’s pretty far south, so that indicated a fairly large solar storm. Of course at that time, lighting was by oil lamp. Instant messaging was trumpets being blown and text messages were delivered by a runner on horseback. In fact because the book was written in the late 19th century the author only described how the crusaders interpreted the northern lights. They though it was a sign from God that they would be victorious the next day. Unfortunately, the misinterpreted the sign. The saracens kicked their butts the next day and slaughtered large numbers of crusaders.
While an electromagnet pulse is a conditional event, an X category coronal mass ejection with the resulting X category solar storm is not in that category. There have been numerous ones, including the one in 1921 which shut down telegraph lines and railroads. Not many telephones nor electric lights were in existence at that time, so those facilities being shut down was insignificant. My mother was born in1912, and as a young woman Philadelphia, at that time a major city in the U.S. still had gaslights for street illumination that were light by a man who went around with a taper to light the gaslights at dusk.
In my mind there is no question that at some point we will undergo an X category solar storm. The only questions are when and how long it will last and how strong it will be resulting in the final question of how much damage will be done to our electronic systems. Some folks postulate that it won’t be all that bad. Others think that it will thrust us back to the 18th century but without the life skills that folks generally had back then. Some think the goobermint has sufficient protections in place that the damage won’t be so drastic. I believe those are the same folks who believe the goobermint has all the answers and should instruct us in every detail in our lives. I think the goobermint has stuff in place to protect the suits and their minions in D.C. but that they care squat about the rest of the country.
A large solar-produced EMP in 1989 in Ontario knocked out its electrical grid.
In 2012, had Earth been a mere two weeks further along in its annual orbit of the sun, a massive solar storm would have trashed Earth’s electronics. I believe that it wasn’t until about 2016 that scientists discovered what happened.
The good news is that we are very likely to have a few hours’ notice of a dangerous solar storm that is actually barreling toward Earth, With a little notice, a great deal of the damage can be prevented because we can take protective measures.
Don’t count on receiving that notice, however.
I-Warrior you and all of us might want to review the Soviet EMP tests easily googled. Test 184 and so on. The Soviets destroyed and rebuilt a city several times for this testing.
No noted radiation on the ground, totally above the Atmosphere Burst. These tests were done in the 1960’s so while transistors were common the current micro-chip (Like IN your cell phones etc.) were not available for the tests.
The EMP tests about automobiles done in the US were from ONE series of tests and I note that the Department that was doing the tests had to BORROW Autos from Other Departments and thus had to RETURN them in good condition SO the tests were Carefully done up to “Failure” but NOT damage to the autos involved.
The EMP “Protections” thus derived were FAR LOWER by several Magnitudes from the EMP levels suffered during the Soviet 184 tests.
So what level of electronic destruction we will suffer is UNKNOWN. Even my Freezer has a Microchip OK….
The Englishman Dr. Faraday did some good research and his cheap ideas are as sound as we can know UNTIL it gets the Real Test of a Real EMP.
Got a Hand Pump equipped well? You might be the Star of the Neighborhood, if not murdered over it.
I have a bail bucket, rope and a sheeve for the water well I got for Y2K still in the shed out back. I’ll have to pull the pump from the water well but we can get water. LOL
Don’t forget the Sun!
1859 Carrington event!
In addition to the Carrington Event which gets the most notoriety, there was an X category solar storm 100 years ago on the 15th of March 1921. It disrupted telegraph and railroad service. The manual typewriter was the state of the art word processor and the few automobiles were hand cranked to start them. There was a smaller solar storm during WWII that interrupted radio communications in the North Atlantic. There was a solar storm in eastern Canada in the 1990s that interrupted electrical service in eastern Canada.
As usual Illini Warrior has no idea what he/she is talking about.
How to easily tell? No power, no cell phone, no vehicle!
Oh it will be easy to tell if it is EMP or not but it will not be so easy to tell if it is enemy launched or solar activity.
Do you honestly think the governments is going to tell us we will be in a WAWKINLE before it happens? No they will say release of this information will cause mass panic be it solar or enemy action.
The author of this piece and many survival novel authors assume that the results of either a CME or an EMP will be silent and just everything will turn off. I submit that is far from what really will happen. The effects of both events is to overload our electrical systems. This means that ultra high levels of electric energy will travel down any electric lines that are not buried deep in the earth. Even those if connected to above-ground installations will receive the full effects of whatever event is occurring.
We all know what happens when we overload a circuit. If the overload is not enough to trip a circuit breaker, but is enough to heat the line, it will start a fire in the walls of our home. I am not an electrician, just have 80+ years of experience living. If you run a big enough current through a circuit not only will you trip the circuit, but you will destroy it in the process. If the current from the street is 660 volts on your 220 volt rated line, it will melt the line. Consco, if I am incorrect in assuming that the 220 line will melt, please correct me. It occurs to me that 660 volts is too low but Consco can correct me if it is such.
Every street has transformers on it to step the current down from whatever the electric company is running in the supply lines down to a current that your house wiring can handle. When some doofus runs into a power pole and knocks it over, the transformer upstream from the downed power pole can’t handle the current and generally blows with a rather loud noise. Imagine all the transformers in your neighborhood all blowing explosively almost simultaneously, and power lines falling everywhere. Only the most obtuse individual would fail to notice something extraordinary like that happening.
Conseco, if I am incorrect in my assumptions that were there to be a massive simultaneous failure due to an extraordinary power surge, and such massive simultaneous failure would most assuredly attract the attention of even the dullest among us, please correct me. Describe what in your experience a truly massive power surge would do to neighborhood electrical systems.
I don’t think either event will be “Gee, the microwave clock is off. I wonder what happened?” I think you will be busy putting out the fire by your service entry box. I think there will be smoke and fire everywhere. I think folks will be running and screaming and there will be general confusion and lots of vehicle collisions, even in the dead of night or perhaps especially in the dead of night.
I hope Consco who happens to have spent most of his life as an electrical contractor can either buttress my posits or correct my erroneous thinking if it is that.
Left Coast Chuck, the Soviet tests in the 60’s DID indeed blow out miles of transformers, surge jumped PAST Open Manual Switches and did cause some structure fires from overloaded wires.
Got a folding bicycle in your cars trunk? With my luck I’d be about as far away as I normally get shopping when the stores lighting essentially blew out their ballasts. Even at my age and condition I KNOW as I tested it I can ride home in a couple of hours. Tested 3 routes so far. Beats a full day walking when things are going to get CRAZY soon.
Citizen bikes makes several models, good quality and BEST of all Upgrade to Muffin series Solid Tires. I’ve ridden over broken bottles, pulled nails out of them and never a problem. It gives me peace of mind to know if my car stops, the cell phones dead I can still get home several times faster than I can quick step home.
I wish I could find such a solid tire for my other bicycles. Rides well and road hazard proof.
You are correct LCC. The voltage will be MUCH greater coming in than your wiring is rated for. The good news for people with a main breaker instead of a main lug type of a panel is the breaker will trip (and fry) but the rest of your loads should theoretically be ok, as the main will have tripped. Main lugs will allow all of your breakers to cook. Greater potential for fire.
Of course as LCC states none of this will be quiet. The Transformers on poles and the ones in the little green or gray vaults on the ground will basically arc. Lot of noise and bright blue light and fires. Screaming, crying all kinds of bad stuff.
Power lines will be failing and falling all over the place. Some will be dead some will be live. Bad news for sure. Wooden poles will be on fire (creosote) causing more mayhem.
People who live close to a substation will be treated to some great fire works as the main gear and the really big transformers blow.
Car accidents galore, phones that wont work due to over loads with too many people trying to use them and circuits being fried. No one is sure about cars yet. I have a 78 GMC truck so I am positive I will be good. The 17 Jeep may be ok and may not be. If they all die as we are driving many will be in trouble.
Something LCC did not mention is fire caused by all of the electrical failures and some of them will be spectacular, plus fires from car accidents. There will be no way to fight them. Even if some vehicles work there will be too many calls for service. Blocks will rage out of control. Whole sections of cities could go.
The first thing we will do is fill every available container, including our Bath Bobs with water. Every container I can get!!! Get creative people. Get some Life Straws or Sawyer filters (or both). With no water you cannot live. Period.
You can get whole house EMP surge protectors. I have read much about them. The science behind them seems very sound. Hooking one up in your panel looks easy. Call an electrician if you are not familiar with it. They cost a few hundred bucks.
For those who may be curious, I have been a commercial/industrial electrician for 35 years. I run large projects.
What would benefit all of us is new research and testing to failure. Test with what we will get hit with in the event of a nuke.
Sun activity may be more difficult but cant help but think if we do the Nuke part we will be able to extrapolate the sun part.
Our place is completely off grid with no grid tie. Mechanical/electrical room has sheet metal on the walls, ceiling and door. Seams all sealed with metal tape. Everything is grounded, trust me, hand pump on the well. The sheet metal is pretty easy as is the grounding. The hand pump for the well was expensive.
Anyone can do this people. Not very tough to do. Just need to invest the time and money.
Or learn to live without power. For a year.
Thanks all
Great article
I have seen large transformers blow as well as the pole mounted ones, trust me you will know it!!!!
Our house took a direct lightning hit in the service panel a few years back, most of the electrical overload jumped into one 15 amp breaker and burned the wire up. What’s odd about these sudden overloads is the effect they have on micro circuits in our electronics. The overload moves so fast that at least a small amount gets past even a fast surge protector and enters the circuits of computers, phones hooked to chargers, T.V., whatever and rather than burning out the device immediately it damages the chips to the point they slowly fail over several days. I had to ask a lot of questions to figure out why all our electronics started going crazy a few days after the strike. HEMP or CME, it will be a disaster, hope Consco checks in and brings Conseco with him. You’d think after you type Consco 4 times auto correct would assume that’s what you mean…
LCC
See my additional response to Armin below….
Judge Holden
You have seen the damage from a lightning strike. Imagine an EMP where the power lines are used as an antenna to sustain the spike in both voltage and current for a much greater amount of time than a lightning strike.
LOL I gotta say that if your electronics are not protected in a Faraday cage, they will probably have very little value anyway. Even if they are in a Faraday cage, They will not be any good with no electricity.
From what I understand about EMP’s through research, the cascading failures of our power grid will undoubtedly cause cascading failures. Its not just replacing the transformers. How do replace the wire and cable that are fried with no manufacturing? This is never addressed in what ifs.
Great article for sure.
I am with ClergyLady, we will be praying for sure!!! More reliable than a phone!!
I don’t have the number of years as Consco but I did service restoration for a public electric utility for nearly 30 years before I got an inside job.
I’ve replace hundreds of transformer fuses, seconalizing line fuses and underground riser fuses. Some of the fuses were blown from a fault on the line, some were blown from an overload condition and some were blown from lightning strikes or an extremely high voltage. Sometimes they blow with not much of an explosive report and sometimes they are extremely loud. I cant say how loud a cannon is but that’s how I’ve described some of the fuses that blew when I closed them. When you’re standing on a pole and closing them with an 8’ fiberglass stick it can be extremely loud. I got to where when I closed a fuse I wore ear pugs and shooting muffs…lol…guess I got a little gun shy…
I got a no light call in a residential area late one night. When I got there an underground riser fuse was blown. I replaced the fuse and closed the switch. IT BLEW!!! That was one I would describe as sounding like a cannon. A few minutes later the police showed up and said they had a report of a LOUD gunshot or explosion….LOL…if you’re wondering…SOP was to replace the blown fuse and try it one time if there wasn’t something that apparently had caused the fuse to blow.
I’ve not read that much about and EMP but if what is being said here is true and that it induces an extremely high voltage on the electric lines and grid it seems to me like it will be like a lightning strike in a thunderstorm so the seconalizing fuses and transformer fuses will most likely blow and normally they are very loud when they blow…like a 30.06 rifle to a 50 caliber or louder. More than likely it will get people’s attention.
This is in reply to Michael’s post about flats and how to avoid them. I recently read an article that said that Bridgestone and a chemical company were going to collaborate on an airless tire to be introduced on new cars in the year 2023. If that is correct, then you can look forward to airless tires being available for most bikes shortly after that.
In the meantime, you might adopt what I did to avoid having to fix flats. I used a tire liner called Gatorskins. There are other similar products available. They are kevlar liner that goes between the tire and the tube and helps protect against punctures. Many wannabe road riders sneer at Gatorskins. They claim that they make the wheel heavier and therefore slow acceleration on starts. That may be true for professional riders who make their living riding bicycles. For the wannabes and the folks who just enjoy riding and don’t enjoy sitting by the side of the road fixing flats, Gaterskins make sense, at least to me.
In addition, I used a product called Slime. It is a fiber containing flue that one squeezes into the tube. Again, the tights crowd who apparently like sitting by the side of the road fixing flats sneer at Slime.
Slime is a fluorescent green and is easy to spot on your tire. One day before starting an organized 65 mile ride I noticed a green spot on the road surface of my tire where a thorn had apparently pierced into the tube. The tire was still hard and the ride was about to start, so I figured I would ride as far as the damaged tire would take me but at least start with the group. That Slime plug in the tube and tire lasted the entire 60 mile ride and my recollection at this date is that I never patched that tube but tossed it when I replaced the tires.
Between Gaterskins and Slime I never experienced a flat where I had to squat by the side of the road fixing a flat and I rode lots of miles. I rode across Kansas from western border to eastern border. I rode down the coast of California as far as Malibu from Eureka in NorCal. I did many 65 mile day rides and occasionally 100 mile day rides. All of those rides were using Gaterskins and Slime. I never had a flat on any ride I did. Obviously I did not deliberately ride through a six-pack of broken glass on the road if I could avoid it.
If I had a get home bike in the back of my car, the tires definitely would have Gatorskins and Slime installed until the time comes when solid tires once again appear on bicycles. In the early days of bicycling, tires were solid rubber but pneumatic tires were so much softer riding that solid rubber tires soon faded from the bicycling and motoring scene.
Hope this helps with your worries about flats. Obviously, if you manage to get a six inch gash in your tire, Those two items won’t help a whole lot. HOWEVER, an extra Gatorskin to insert in the tire where the gash is and a new type with Slime in it will help you limp home. If the furtherest you go is a couple hours home on a bike, I feel confident that kind of emergency repair will get you home.
Left Coast Chuck, I suppose I need to increase my sock in Fire Extinguishers as I strongly doubt that the Fire Department will soon be at my house after a EMP-CME :-O!!
ALSO Check the older ones you already have. Fire Departments around here do it nearly for free. Sucks to pull that pin and nothing useful comes out….
Seriously folks THINK things through. EMP fires WILL Occur. EMS and the FD is NOT coming. Every moment you waste yelling when smoke is coming out of your power meter is wasted time to PUT IT OUT NOW with a good dry chemical fire extinguisher.
Aside from that THINK about how many inexperienced folks who start using FIRE as a primary way to cook food and heat their houses AFTER the Grid fails? Let alone arson from black clad Antifa and such.
LCC, when I was in the Philippines and MT Pinatubo erupted, I was out fishing from the bank about 100 yards from the electrical power generation plant, and about 1 PM the cloud of pulverized gritty rock-sand from the north met a monsoon storm from the south and everything got dark very fast, and this wet, gritty, and very sticky “ash” came raining down and was gathering on the power lines, transformers, and the power generation plant. We took cover under a tin roof over a picnic table and noticed there was glittering that became electric sparks all along the power lines, and then transformers started blowing out, and then finally the power plant started a very loud whining noise and flames erupted out the top at least 20-30 feet high, then seemed to blow itself out with a loud POP and everything was in total darkness – no lights could be seen anywhere, and it was still maybe 2PM. What was normally about a five-minute drive to get back home took at least 45 minutes due to visibility in the headlights being about 10 feet, and since the windshield was getting coated faster than you could wipe it off, we had to stick our heads out the windows to see at all, and you had to stop and wipe the wet “ash” off the lights about every five minutes. Yes, we got covered in wet “ash”, as well as a lot more getting inside the vehicles, but getting home was paramount so we made it happen.
I learn so much on this site… thanks so much Claude!!
Depends where I am when it happens.
1. If not home – pray and get home.
If home, pray, check water, and draw down the pressure tank. I store water but have large water totes for the garden. I always can fill one of those while the pressure holds.
2. Check on family if there is still service.
If not, Get out the walki talkies and batteries and take one unit to a next door neighbor along with a solar battery charger for small batteries.
3. Check for radio stations on the air.
If not then take a different walki talkie, batteries and solar battery charger to another neighbor half a mile away.
4. Review pantry list and hope I don’t need to go to town for anything.
5. Set out something to cook for the next meal that will be quick.
6. Check on some disabled neighbors and seniors.
7. Take care of things at home. Husband can’t be alone for long. Critters need feeding and water.
8. A bit early but if all communication is out I’ll check out other preparedness: Weapons just in case, water in containers for animaIs and garden as they are used in rotation, set out pump for in home water containers.
9. Fix a meal and feed husband. Try to eat some aIso so I can keep a clear head for those who depend on me.
10. Pray, review preps, recheck animal feed. Decide if supplies are sufficient and for how long. Start trays of fodder if needed. If warm weather cut the alfalfa along the ditch. Feed some and dry some to add to stores.
I actually have a pIan written or atleast guidelines for different scenarios. If I never look at them at least I know there is a plan if I need them and time permits.
I also know many emergencies arrive with a need for instant decisions and quick reactions. Pray and get busy….. I know some here don’t have much regard for religion but its been the mainstay of my life. Especially when sudden troubles show up.
Well the guy who has the late 70s Chevy has a hei ignition system…. not exactly full proof if your claiming a emp is some Hollywood style event
Raventacticalmedia.
No HEI system. It has been replaced.
It would entirely depend upon your situation and where you were and what you were doing when an EMP wave struck. If you were at home your actions would be quite different than if you were in your car or truck or an airplane or on a ship hundreds or even thousands of miles from home. Can you imagine being on a cruise ship when an emp wave strikes? That’s gotta be a recipe for disaster.
Hei replaced with what msd?
Just a couple of small corrections, Chuck. Starfish was launched from the Johnston atoll and Hawaii is 900 miles away. Be careful you don’t mix up voltage and amps. I’ve never tried it but you could probably run 660 volts through a #14 awg cable as long as your load doesn’t exceed 15 amps. I’d have to run the numbers to be sure. Voltage doesn’t melt cable but amps does. Ever had a shock from your sparkplugs? Can be up to 50,000 volts. it’s unpleasant but won’t kill you. Amps (current) will as current is the number of electrons going past a certain point per second. Voltage is just the force pushing all this stuff around.
Admin
Correct with voltage versus amperage. The wire rating is what will do it. The NM-B (Romex) is rated at 600 volts nominal.
The voltage, I believe, and from some of my research into EMP’s will be significantly higher than 600V. However the amperage, according to Dr. Bradleys studies, will be significantly higher than most of the wire used today is rated for. Remember it will not be the load the EMP puts on the wire but also what is the load currently on it. Add those 2 together and you will probably have a recipe for disaster
You are correct, Armin. Nice hearing from you again. I have touched a spark plug while the engine was running — not deliberately, even I am not quite that obtuse. The resulting shock was just that, very shocking.
Consco did not answer my posits directly, but did so rather obliquely. I still maintain that transformers blowing up all around the neighborhood will certainly alert folks that something untoward is occurring, unlike the authors who posit that you wake up and the electric alarm clock is off and your phone and TV don’t work. I think the effect of an EMP going off in the early morning hours will arouse even the soundest sleeper.
Oops! I posted the reply to Armin before I went further up in the replies and saw that Consco actually did reply directly to my post.
Thanks for the back-up, Consco.
I once reported the deposition of an electrician who accidentally grounded a 660V. shore-side transformer with his screwdriver while working on it. It was live and was supplying juice to a ship tied up along side. I don’t have any idea how many amps it takes to run a sea going ship, but I suppose it is quite a few. Anyway, the juice melted the screwdriver so rapidly that it exploded with a concomitant boom that left the electrician partially deaf in one ear and he had some interesting facial scars where the molten metal from the screwdriver hit his face. This many years later I can’t remember if he had any other injuries. I think he was protected from the flow of juice by the insulated handle of the screwdriver — other than the secondary deafness and burns.
I also can’t remember if anyone asked him why he hadn’t shut the transformer down, but I suppose with it supplying a ship which in all probability was off-loading or on-loading cargo, it wasn’t possible or would have cost too much money with the juice off while he worked on the transformer.
Just now reading this particular article – great article, as well as all the other suggestions in the comments!
We had a similar incident when I was on a shore station in the Navy: a couple of civilian contractors showed up, not sure what they were supposed to be doing, but started drilling into a circuit breaker box on the outside of our Intermediate level maintenance building. All sorts of witnesses standing around, taking smoke breaks etc., so I think the contractors at least THOUGHT they were doing what they were supposed to be doing. Anyway, some combination of drill or metal or hand resulted in the guy holding the drill being blown back about 20 feet, with the tips of his fingers blown off and a black burnt hole near his elbow where the electrical circuit had exited his arm. He was fortunate the circuit just went the length of his forearm, if it had gone across his chest of course he would have been dead and not just severely injured. No idea why they didn’t secure power first, especially given the box was clearly marked “High Voltage”; maybe they thought they needed to get the cover off before they could pull the main breaker?
Just remembered that incident, reading about the one you describe.
The article mentions having a get home bag in the trunk of your car in the case of an EMP strike and you car won’t run. I’m not sure the battery would still be good and even if it is, will the car trunk open? Most now a days don’t have a key. I have a 2006 and if the battery is dead, I have no way to open the back end. I can, however, go through the back seat.
Joe: Check your owner’s manual or stop by a dealer and ask the service rep where the manual release is. It is hard for me to believe that even the lowest end passenger vehicle doesn’t have a manual release some place. I have read that manual releases from inside the trunk are now mandatory. I don’t know when that supposed rule went into effect, but it is to enable folk who are shoved into the trunk by evil doers to be able to escape. It would be really helpful for you to learn where that handy device is just in case some day you are thrust into your trunk by somebody who wants it to go in the opposite direction that you want to go.
Joe: Assuming that your particular car has no inside the passengers’ compartment trunk release, and further assuming that your car does have an inside the trunk emergency release, you can run a line from the inside the trunk release under the upright rear cushions, between the upright and the seating cushions into the passenger compartment. It would then be there to release your trunk lid in a complete electrical meltdown. I would go on line to Sgt Knots bank line on Amazon. There you will find a myriad of different strengths of line. You can buy it as cheaply as under $10 and still have plenty of line left to make a trot line for fishing if there is a body of water around that has fish in it.
I won’t explain a trot line here, but you can go on line and find out how to make one and use it for fishing. It is illegal to use in many states while we are still not in a completely end of the world situation, but after things go to hell in a hand basket, nobody will care if you are using a trot line or not.
Using black bank line it will hardly be noticeable. You could even coil it and secure the coil with a rubber band and just leave the coil barely visible on the rear seat. Be sure to test your installation to make sure the knot you use will be secure when you go to pull it and that the line itself is strong enough to withstand the force necessary to operate the trunk lid release.
In the last few years, rather than tying a knot incorrectly, I have taken to using small zip ties and making a loop with them. I always use three and sometimes, depending upon how much force is going to be on the rope will use four or more small zip ties to secure the loop. It works much like wire clamps but of course doesn’t have the strength of wire clamps but for most fastening jobs it has been highly satisfactory. a loop is stronger in pulling strength than a knot. You use wire clamps or rope clamps in situations where there is a lot of tensile strain put on the loop. The trucker’s hitch is a situation where one uses a loop rather than a knot. I am not a rope tying expert, so some of this drivel may be slightly inaccurate. Be guided accordingly. Any rope tying experts, feel free to chime in and correct anything I stated that is not correct.
My 203 Ford has a key to the trunk. I know the dash button won’t work but the key will.
If by chance I were in the city, getting home would be tough. Might walk home in a week. If in the neighboring town the 15-25 miles would be an uncomfortable walk with peripheral neuropathy. Might take 2 days on foot. I don’t leave home very often now. Husband is definatly failing and isn’t safe alone for very long. Next door neighbor would check on him if she’s at home.
Not being home is easily a recipe for disaster.
Clergy Lady, Mind over matter always works well. Just make sure you wear good shoes. In the city, waterproof, steel toe and shank work well. Took the long walk home on multiple memorable occasions, mostly transit strikes and big black outs, and then there was Sandy and 9/11.
Clergylady if you can walk I suspect you can ride a folding bicycle 🙂
My longest shopping trip is 25 miles from home. I can walk it in probably 2 days if no crazy gets me. I’ve RIDDEN all three routes between home and shopping and I can do it easily in 3-4 hours.
Plenty of inexpensive folding bicycles. Please get one. Even IF EMP crushes all but the oldest vehicles that bicycle will be a blessing especially IF you have a bicycle trailer.
Water, first. Make certain the inground is full, then the 500 gallon tanks, then 50 gallon barrels. Fill the tub and all sink, lay plastic over them to keep out dust and stop evaporation. Thaw and roast as much meat and veggies, as well as fruit as possible. Anything that can be canned will be. Open food dehydrator and start working on meat, first.
It may not be needed, but if by chance we lose the water, turn off the toilet inlet. Flush, rinse and put in airseal, a plug, to prevent sewer gas from coming in. Gray water should have its outlet outside, into the garden area or in a compost pit, then the garden or storage.
All dried foods should be sealed as tight as possible. We eat beans, but the only grain is sweet corn (issues with carbs and gluten).
I would head to the closest feed store NOW to pick up food-grade diatomaceous earth, chicken scratch (it’s all eatable grain), charcoal (wood around here will soon be in short supply), a new pick and shovel, and so on.
Dig an outhouse well away from water sources. 100 feet minimum from wells and creeks. Go as deep as you can. Line with plastic if you can (bags used to store silage are big enough, and acid resistant) and seal the plastic. One seat, with a 6 inch or bigger pipe attached. The pipe needs to go 3/4 down into the pit. Add a stand pipe with a gas tap. Leave that open for a few days. A second pipe will take effluent to the compost pit. water from there is pumped into the garden area.
Fill with water. If no leaks occur overnight, you can start to use it. According to Star methane production solids should be no more than 2-3%. this is optimal and can shift either way and still make enough gas for a family for cooking and lights.
Hose from the stand pipe has to be for gas. it ends in a plastic balloon made for this. a leather strap around it will force gas into a stove or gas light fixtures. If people from 3rd world nations are doing this, why aren’t we? Survive, but do it in style. The most common ‘outhouse’ now has concrete floors, sealed, with pigs and poultry housed in them. https://small-farm-permaculture-and-sustainable-living.com/methane_generator/
niio
red, when we lost power for several weeks after MT Pinatubo erupted, we left the fridge and freezer closed as much as possible and would have to have everything planned out before opening, then open and grab what you need and immediately close. We were cooking on an outdoor grill and started by cooking everything already thawed, and then as we noticed things were thawing, we cooked all seafood first, then the meats depending on what seemed the most thawed. We still had way more than the two of us could eat so we started handing out paper plates of chicken, ribs, and burgers to the neighbors and also the Marines that were assigned to patrol the neighborhoods and were living on two MRE’s per day, and told them to swap patrol areas and send others over, or take some food with them to hand out. We did feed a lot of Marines and our housing area was very well protected – they kept a good watch and shot a few of the monkeys that had started to break into homes to raid, and the rest then ran off and did not return.
It is my understanding that an EMP will wipe out electronics, including vehicle computers, cell phones etc. that are not in a Faraday cage. If so, I don’t think some of these suggestions will work. Back to the 18th Century. Be ready…
Alice: The EMP is supposedly designed to do just what you described. However, there is always Murphy lurking around any time some untested device is activated. You are familiar with how many times we have had a rocket blow up on the launch stand or be blown up after launch because the rocket was headed in a different direction from the one that had been programmed. Also, ask anybody who has been in combat how many times they threw a grenade only to have it just go “pop” instead of the explosion they were looking for. Or mortar shells that exited the tube only to fall silently to earth. How many dud bombs have Germany, Japan and England dug up since WWII or even WWI? I just read about a rather large bomb getting dug up and exploded by the demolition guys that a souvenir from WWII which ended in 1945 and bombing of London ended a few years before that.
So, yes, the perfectly designed rocket working precisely as planned and the explosive going off on the exact target destination with the programmed explosion will certainly create a bad day for us. Something that goes a little wonky won’t be like a trip to the country fair, but will be something less than the launcher hoped for.
The watchwords are: “Prepare for the worst and hope for the best.”
LCC
Great points all.
Also remember after the first one hits a second one may follow up a week or so later. So if the desired result is not achieved the first time someone may try try again.
Personal beliefs are if anyone starts launching nukes at us, it will be a very bad day.
Maybe China Joe overlooks one or two from his masters (Hunters business partners) in China but even Obiden will respond after that.
Apropos my comment below about munitions not working, I just read the autobiography of a retired Marine colonel who, as a sergeant during our follies in Vietnam stepped on a Bouncing Betty which was an anti-personnel mine designed to shoot up about waist high (depending upon how tall one was) before detonating. He heard the pop and as soon as he could he leaped one way and threw a bag of about 50 high explosive rounds for the M79 he was carrying in another direction. He lay there frozen, waiting for the explosion. When nothing happened he and the men he was with examined the mine. It had popped up but for some reason the main charge didn’t go off. He opined in his autobiography that had it gone off with all the H.E. grenades he had in the satchel, there would have nothing left of him to send home. In all probability the secondary explosion would have wiped out the whole unit he was with. So once again, prepare for the worst and hope for the best.
Always good to read info on EMPs, but we seem to be having more cyber attacks than EMP attacks these days. Focusing on steps to prepare to mitigate them might also be a good thing to put on one’s agenda.
Yep
The results could be the same with a cyber attack. We have not experienced a catastrophic one ….yet
Cyber attacks give governments deniable plausibility. “It is a rogue bunch of hackers not connected with us at all. Ve Know Nozzing” to steal a line from Hogan’s Heroes.
Cascade effect. For instance, the Iran and N Korean EMP plans state an intention to detonate at least three nukes, four hours apart. (Multiple, to disable opening silos and faraday protected equipment that will be brought out) If we know who set off the nuke or nukes, we’ll respond with nukes in retaliation. If we respond, potentially everyone will response in kind, for preemptive self-defense. (perhaps even if we DON’T respond, other nations will anyway, out of panic and fear) The result being that for 4 to 72 hours after the first nuke there is the severe possibility of random nukes detonating everywhere. So, if you’re out wandering around during the first three days, you’re probably not particularly long for this world. Stay down, have patience, wait, survive.
With scraps in your garage, you could build a 2 foot square Fairiday cage and get it grounded. Communication will be important and you could stick 4 of the nice GMRS walkie talkies and batteries in there. Midland or Motorola and Best Buy has em. Use the high power side but remember that uses more battery. If you can reach to the other end with one of your radios with low power, by all means use that. Line of sight on a decent day you might get 5-7 miles apart reception. Would be smart to stick a decent AM/FM/SW radio in your cage too, with extra batteries.
I’d think the steel cheap sheds people use for lawm mowers could “help” shield a generator if you grounded every side well insuring good contact with metal, not paint. Ground the genset too and they all have a hook for that use. Just might save that genset. As you know, you fire up a generator you are inviting company. Have a plan to repel borders. Harsh language won’t get it done.
I was in G2 in the Marines and we did some advance planning work in relation to base security here Stateside. Our estimation for the SHTF with the thugs mounting up once they realized what had happened and the opportunities that existed with easy marks to be starting slowly in under 12 hours. Could be half that with the very violent and thug ones. Full on anarchy and chaos by day 3-4. They know there will be NO law enforcement and if your car won’t run, neither with the Natl Guards gear. What people don’t understand is that all but the most loyal LE will abandon ship and stay home to protect their own family. They know one cop against a mob of 150 is suicide. Nurses, doctors, surgeons are not likely to go to work if they believe their home could be ransacked while there, either.
We’ve always told everyone, no one is coming to save you. The elites and politicians will be taken care of, the rest of us will have to slug it out. The NWO and Obama want this. Remember, one of the primary goals of the NWO is population reduction. What better way than to let us do it ourselves? I could see Obama asking Iran to do this to us, and the NWO would be very grateful. Solves one of their problems. Most know Obama is part of the Covid Plan-Demic too.
Burn the bodies to keep the smell and infection down. Save some to feed your dogs.
I am no one’s expert regarding EMP, but I do know more than most (and I did stay at the Holiday Inn Express last night). Nevertheless, I will say that I have heard what appear to be many highly qualified persons say that grounding a Faraday Cage is the exact wrong thing to do
I am not going to attempt to regurgitate the reasoning for the “no ground” school of thought, given my modest technical background, so I encourage readers to do an internet search about the subject. Dr. Arthur Bradley appears to be a particularly knowlegeable individual about the threat of EMP and how to deal with it. Here’s one of his YouTube videos: https://youtu.be/aMct99DiZak
If and when there is an EMP, the stores won’t be open. Lights will be out. Cash registers; Credit Cards won’t work.
In the past when the power fails, they kick everyone out and lock the doors.
Not so fast. See my earliest comment above.
Yeah, but we have tiendas, mom and pop stores. They’ll be open. Most of their stuff comes from over the border and Mexico likes human backup on all things. niio
About “tiendas” those people owning those stores will quickly figure out that they are trading essential supplies for worthless paper. As a simple matter of self-preservation, they will likely close their doors when they figure out that new deliveries won’t be arriving anytime soon.
Survivorman: Borderlands are notorious for trouble, but after SHTF it’s what border? Mexico is mountainous and most roads uncertain. Mules, burros, horses, and oxen are pretty common. My ex’s kin think nothing of a 100 mile jog. They call themselves the Runners. Men can pack half their weight in trade goods yet, if there’s too many cliffs to climb. When they go on a long haul, it’s mules or range cattle (bootleg tequila is even called cascabel de vaca, cow hoof). They run down to the cafetals in Durango and pack beans and fruit, then run home. Before Mexico declared war on them, it was common for them to run with Americans hauling rade goods. Apaches and comanche avoided them, and for good reason.
My point is, once things crash, it will not take long for traders to appear again, just as they had long before trains came along. They will not need metal, and paper will be worthless. If they get raided, then everyone in that area will try to hunt the thieves down, just as they always did. Tools, solar, furs, hides, tallow, preserved food. Lead will be a major, AKA hillbilly gold. Herbs for food and health, metals like zinc, brass, copper, and silver. niio
Red, I am more than a bit technically challenged, but I see no way to respond to you directly, so I will respond to you here, since we both responded to DAL. I expect that you will see this.
I am sure that all sorts of unregulated trading will take place as people begin to barter for their needs after a massive EMP event. My view is that for a precious few days, cash will be accepted when credit and debit cards can’t be processed. Junk silver and gold will likely be demanded after that. Precious gems? I’m not sure. Few people know the value of precious gems (and the jewelry industry depends on this), so this is a much more difficult to trade–at least with any semblance of accuracy as to its value.
In the Nat Geo program, “American Blackout,” a desperate NYC metrosexual traded his Rolex for a case of bottled water. I don’t recommend this approach. 🙂
Sure, major supermarkets may shut down, but probably not immediately. Most supermarket managers, unless constrained by company policy, will not want to alienate loyal shoppers. The managers won’t be in touch with “corporate” and may well be uninformed about how bad the situation is likely to get. At least initially, they may accept cash in order not to send long time customers away empty-handed.
As for the “mom and pop” stores, which you refer to as tiendas, the merchandise on the shelves is their own property, not “corporate” property. At some point, as the shelves are emptied, they will understand that the cash they receive for the goods leaving the store is worthless. For every can of soup being sold to customers, that is one less can of soup their own family will have to survive the ordeal.
That is when I see the front door being locked and the owners doing whatever they can to save the remaining merchandise for themselves. As tensions and tempers increase in the community, it may well require a serious use of firearms in order to preserve that merchandise for their own family’s use.
I can almost hear the crowd outside the store now. “Hoarders! Hoarders! They won’t share!!!”
Survivor: Good post. Yes, agreed. One thing, all sorts of trading is going on and has. The IRS tries constantly to collect taxes on it and can’t. Over the border, forget it. People are not going to pay duty if they can get someone to sneak things in let alone taxes. Mojados and others still follow trade routes set up thousands of years ago. Instead of turquoise and parrot feathers, it guns and ammo, drugs, silver, cigars, cigarettes, and so on. The trade is lively and very active and will not stop just because computers kick the bucket. Cash is always nice, but if busted by the law or gangs on either side, you get a good beating and lose it. niio
I read, yet I rarely reply. I was diagnosed with the same disease that killed my father. He died in 1968. I was diagnosed in 1970. I have learned to make the meds I need to survive. I started preparing when I was 3 years old. CityChick and I are neighbors (about 70 miles away). LCC is one of my heroes. ClergyLady is an inspiration (my husband and I are very active in our church). We grow our own food. We make our own wine (not grapes) and hard cider. We are VERY active in the shooting sports. 1000 yards has become easy. We teach combat carbine and defensive pistol and shotgun classes, My husband reloads. We spend 2-3 days at the range EVERY WEEK. We store what we eat, and we eat what we store. We take FEMA classes all the time. I have a mater’s degree in cyber security and a master’s degree in national security. Yet, I do not think we are ready. I ask God to protect us through whatever may occur, but still, I am uncertain how to proceed. If anyone could lend encouragement, I we would surely appreciate it.
Tee sounds like your doing fairly well. I personally with out a known range target AND a scope SEE a human sized target past 400 meters. Let alone ID them as a threat or a neighbor.
Folks For all the improvements in killing NOTHING is as effective as Sanitation FAIL Diseases.
IF EMP occurs you can bet all the 1st World Sewer systems will fail and raw sewage will be in that river-lake you were planning on using for water.
One of the 4 Horsemen is named Disease OK?
Get your SAFE water and Safe Human waste and Trash Disposal squared away OR that rule of 3’s about No Water or BAD Water will come into play. Cliff Notes day two you WISH you were dead. Day 3 your wish is granted.
I agree with Michael. Sanitation is going to be a serious problem after any serious long-term interruption of public services. I intend to go back to what we did when I was young that that was burn anything combustible. Fruit and vegetable waste can be composted. Bones can be pulverized with a hammer and then buried around plants, deep enough to prevent being dug up by scavenging animals. Bone meal which is ground up bones is an expensive plant fertilizer.
Human urine can be used to fertilize plants. Human solid waste can be disposed of as we did in the service, burn the shitters to use the common expression for the exercise. By the time human waste is reduced to ash it can be used for fertilizer also. The bacteria in it has been consumed in the fire.
You shouldn’t have to worry about folks stopping by to get a helping of whatever it is you are cooking. Ask any trooper how everyone wanted to be on the shitter burning detail due to the wonderful aromas that emanated from cooking waste.
Cans and bottles will be valuable commodities after the end of the world as we know it. There won’t be any replacements for a long time. If you can’t use them, somebody else can. Save them for trade.
Blank paper, of course, can be used as writing paper. Newspaper and nom-coated stock magazines can be used for sanitary purposes. Coated paper which is the shiny stuff magazines are printed on, generally isn’t absorbent. The coating is designed to make it non-absorbent. It makes the colored ink stand out better. Look at a colored print on newsprint and compare it to a colored print in a magazine. See how the colors are brighter and seem to have more snap? That is due to the coating on the paper. After it is printed, I don’t know of many uses for coated stock. That would go in the incinerator or be used as an accelerant in starting a fire. If torn up in small pieces it will burn satisfactorily. Make sure that the coated stock is completely combusted before grilling any food. While many printing inks today are vegetable based, in printing coated stock, one still needs quick dry ink and the vegetable based inks are not noted for quick drying. Coated stock is still mostly printed with petroleum based inks. Even the soy ink which is an oil based ink is not quick drying.
Along that same line, one should be careful about using painted wood in cooking fires. One never knows what chemicals have been used in formulating the paint. Pallets often times have wood preservative on them and one must be careful in using pallets for cooking fires. Heating water in a closed container isn’t a problem but I would be very careful about open containers and especial grilling over an open fire
A little off topic maybe, but after either an EMP or a CME we will be using fires a lot more than we do today. They won’t be the kind of relaxing barbecuing that we do today, it will a lot more intense.
Tee: Amen.
Michael: In the old days, no one in their right mind drank water unless they had a way to sterilize it. Beer and ale are boiled before fermenting. Acids help once fermenting is under way. Wine was mixed with water because even the low proofs they had were enough to kill parasites.
Sanitation was almost non-existent except for religious reasons. Do number 2 in the woods or fields and if you get any on your hands, you scrubbed them clean in dirt. Washbasins should be copper or brass. Silver if you can afford it. Cedar wood is pretty good, as well. An outhouse was a major step up for civilizations. People who do not care will use a gutter.
Were I in town, I’d be far more worried over rodents feeding on corpses, cats and dogs going wild. We have understanding what happens in war to stray and abandoned animals. When starving people had something to cook, dogs would come to hope for a bite.
niio
red, and sometimes the stray pets became the next meal.
Sorry, i just prove read. * I have a master’s degree in cyber security
In the early days of this school, when it was still called Koviashuvik
(https://www.mainelocalliving.org), my husband and I spent a good deal of time there. Human waste was used for fertilizer. At first it was difficult for me to eat the vegetables without thinking about it. They are (they were a couple years back) 100% off the grid (except a WiFi connection). I often compare the onions we grow today with the onions we grew at that school. My husband called them shonions because we used human waste to fertilize them. The shonions were bigger and way better looking than any onion we grow at home now. Though I think our home onions taste better. Although that may be mind over feces, I mean matter.
If you read the homesteading book that was talked about a while back, you will learn that they used both urine and solid human waste for fertilizer. They aged the solid waste and then used it on fruit trees. When I was first in the Far East, human waste was applied in liquid form to all the farms. Colloquially the indigenous personnel as the armed forces referred to the Japanese and other citizens of far eastern countries, called the resulting fragrances “country perfume”. We were not supposed to eat indigenous produce due to the danger of fecal-borne pathogens. As a result, fresh celery and oranges every six weeks was considered sufficient fresh produce to satisfy our dietary needs. I can attest that by the sixth week the oranges looked a little tired but were still edible but the celery was well past it best by date. Most of it was brown and mushy and nobody touched it.
It is my understanding that urine can be mixed with water to be used as a fertilizer straight from the source. I would have to review the homesteading book to refresh my memory about how long they aged the solid wastes. I have a vague recollection but would rather not state it. Buy the book. If you are going to homestead you MUST have that book. Research the archives to get the exact title and buy it on Amazon. Even if you are just growing some veggies in your backyard it is full of hands-on expertise from folks who are dyed in the wool, full time, for real homesteaders in really remote parts of North America. It’s not theory with them. They have actually walked the walk. They are farming north of the U.S.-Canada line where winters are real.
LCC: Because of bacteria, if grazing livestock in an orchard, it’s recommended to have them out 6 months before harvest. After harvest, they can go back to clean up fallen fruit and leaves. I was taught this is probably the best way to control pests and diseases in orchards.
Humanure is a no-no, but in fields, you’re not supposed to plant crops for several weeks (2 minimum) even after spreading animal manure; bacteria can be taken in by plants and moved up into fruit and leaves. Root crops will absorb them. Human, even treated, about 6 months.
Livestock should not be allowed on the same pasture more than a week without moving them for 30 days minimum. That helps pastures to recover and most parasites will die or get eaten by predatory insects. niio
Iran nor north Korea have the capacity to shoot icbms
Thanks, Chuck. I’m trying my best to be good and not go off on one of my rants. You’re absolutely right about that electrician accidently grounding the 660 volt shore-side transformer. He was very lucky it just melted his screwdriver. What people need to realize is that when he did so he had a direct short back to ground and ALL the juice went through his screwdriver. The formula for current (amps) is voltage divided by resistance. So when the short circuit happened even if you figure 1 ohm of resistance for the screwdriver and wire (it was probably much less) you have 660 volts and 660 amps. If the resistance was 1/2 ohm then double the current. If the resistance was only 1/4 ohm then quadruple the current. You get the idea. Under NO circumstances do you mess around with those kinds of circuits. The electrician may have wanted to be considerate of the people on the ship but what he did was irresponsible and unprofessional. He was putting his life at risk unnecessarily. Probably also damaged the transformer. His licence should have been pulled right there and then. Being careless with those kinds of high voltage circuits will kill you quicker than a great white mistaking you for a seal.
Armin: I think he learned his lesson. I don’t remember all the residual symptoms he had but he had several major ones affecting his memory, sleep and headaches. As far as governing bodies and licensing, I don’t recall whether the topic came up. In fact at this late date, I don’t remember why he was being deposed.
On another note: I went on line and checked Test 184. The one site I visited had complete details of the tests that were conducted, including a rather uninteresting lengthy discussion of why place names are spelled differently which I won’t go into here. I did copy the pasted paragraph below which indicated what we might expect:
“If the United States W49 warhead used for the Starfish Prime test had been used in Test 184, the E3 component would have been more than 5000 nT/min in the Karaganda region. According to recent studies, a disturbance in the present-day United States of 4800 nT/min would likely damage about 365 large transformers in the U.S. power grid, and would leave about 40 percent of the U.S. population without electrical power for as long as 4 to 10 years due to the loss of large transformers that would have to be custom-built (many in other countries, especially if power was not available for the two U.S. plants that are able to make these transformers).”
In other words, an EMP equal to the 1962 Starfish shot would pretty well wipe us out. I didn’t read the whole article so I don’t know if the author discussed the other problem with 2021 as opposed to 1962. In 1962, the only computers of which I was aware were main frame IBM computers, perhaps a Cray computer. If there were personal computers, they were Heathkit computers for folks who liked to build stuff like that. Does anyone remember Heathkit? Soon the $64,000 question will be “What is Radioshack?”
The author says:
“But your friends and neighbors aren’t the only ones you have a responsibility to inform about what’s happening; you should tell your city’s authorities as well. They probably don’t know you; so make sure you go prepared, with the information that they’ll need. That includes information about the technicalities of what an EMP is, what it does, and what the prognosis for the future is. Don’t be surprised if they ask for your advice, even if they don’t follow it.”
You’ve GOT to be kidding me…..that’s ridiculous.
I agree. Even Mayberry, RFD, is likely to have a emergency preparedness coordinator, even if he/she is the local fire captain wearing two hats. A town’s governmental structure would have to be very primitive for the occurrence of the event not to be well-recognized–even if the town is poorly prepared to deal with the problem.
There is a mistake in the article. I worked for walmart for several years and the do not have backup generators. If the power goes out they close within 15 minutes. Large grocery stores use so much power I doubt few if any have generators. Outside of a friendly local market you will not be shopping. If your going after food supplies think of unusual sources. You will not be able to buy and panic will set in quickly when people can’t get info. Looters are quick to take advantage of power outages and this will be no different.
Your comment may, and I emphasize may, be a bit overly broad. See the example in my very early comment about this article.
I fully expect that many stores will be open on a cash only basis. Can I say how many? Of course, not. Yet, supermarket chains will be loath to turn away customers due to the loss of good will, especially since the full magnitude of the event may not be fully appreciated at that point, and I expect that many will be open for a short periood.
In no way would I bet my loved ones’ futures on this possiblity, however.
Stock a deep larder NOW.
My Irish born grandmom (1898 -1978) use to tell us a story about our house and possessions will someday bite us and to watch the animals for the warning signs. She said go outside and lay down in the grass and we would be ok. (lay down in green pastures-bible) She said we had to go outside because the house would catch fire and be gone. EMP seems to fit what she was saying, So I have prepared for this my entire life.
“EMP Shield” sells devise to protect your house & car etc. I have bought them and can only say they were easy for this 60 yr old woman to install. I also have bought emp bags and have stuff protected in them. Ebay & amazon sell some. I also bought a few yards of emp proff fabric from their.
I don’t know if any of it will work since we have not yet had a life test as of yet but at lease we can prepare. Be sure to get no electric hand tools and grass cutter push mowers. I have also gotten everything I can in the way of solar powered stuff from generators to cooking stoves. I live normal modern but prepare for hurricanes and EMP
Popcorn tins commonly seen at Christmas are supposed to work well as Faraday Cages as long as the lid fits tightly. They must have some sort of nonconductive material between the inside of the metal and the instrument to be protected. Cardboard works, and even a rag that is not too thin. You can often find the tins at an inexpensive price if you prowl thrift stores.
Galvanized garbage cans with tight-fitting lids will also work as Faraday Cages. Again, use a nonconductive liner. In many cases, the original box the item came in will work as insulation if it is heavy paper stock or cardboard, and plastic.
I recommend that you use the “suspenders and a belt” approach and wrap the item you want to protect with six individual layers of aluminum foil (and not six layers of foil
wrapped all at once).
Old swing set frames with swings removed would be great for cooking large quantities of meat at one time. Use chains, s hooks and clamps to adjust distance of meat from the fire. The frame will hold several chains or pots of meat. Dig trench to build a fire from one side of the frame to the other. Also tripods and grills on the ground can cook foods all from the same fire. Better to give away the cooked food than to let it ruin.
My first reaction? “Oh dammit — I didn’t finish printing that last gardening (or medical, or self-defense) book out yet! Guess I should have gotten it in hard copy anyway.”
my first reaction would probably be to try and figure out what is happening, and if I determined it was an EMP, then I head for home and family.
Another thing to consider is if your home gun safe or your vault door are using an electronic keypad that will definitely be destroyed by a CME or EMP you certainly won’t be able to operate it to open your safe or vault. The same thing would be if your doors on your home are electronically controlled.
Thoughts???