"I walk by faith, not by sight."
Posted on 02/14/2012 4:19:34 PM PST by Kartographer
The article has been generously contributed by Tess Pennington of Ready Nutrition. After joining the Dallas chapter of the American Red Cross in 1999 Tess worked as an Armed Forces Emergency Services Center specialist and is well versed in emergency and disaster management & response. You can follow her regular updates on Preparedness, Homesteading, and a host of other topics at www.readynutrition.com .
(Excerpt) Read more at shtfplan.com ...
Ugh.
When the Grid Goes Down.
Hmmmmm. Wish I was clever enough to write a “When the Levee
Breaks” parody.
got windmills?
This is something that worries me greatly. We are all familiar with seeing the transformers at the top of the electric poles.
But the grid also depends on these big, whiz-bang transformers that are interspersed along the feeder lines. These are the big puppies, the ones that do the main work.
Fellow on the radio one night said we have like 3,000 of them in service.
An EMP attack or even a semi-decent solar storm could knock out hundreds of them, and possibly cause cascading destruction of the good ones left.
The wait time for a new one of these is over a year as it is...
Great read!
Internet hook-up?
Newt Gingrich has co-authored several books with Forstchen and I believe he cooberated with him with One Second After. Ths is a huge issue for Newt and he is, as usual, well informed on the topic. (one might ask Santorum and Romney how they feel about the threat of EMP attack.)
Not sure which John Wayne movies would be applicable to this topic.
From the article, via the link, and previously modeled by other articles:
During the outage, millions would be adversely affected, with some like Frank Gaffney, president of the Center for Security Policy, suggesting that within a year 9 out of 10 Americans would be dead from starvation, disease and violence.I don't see that as being so far-fetched, considering that 95% of our population is currently too stupid to get out of the rain or cross the street alone;
... and considering that 100% of our population is as far separated from self-sufficiency as any population of people in the history of mankind;
... and considering that 100% of our current population is the least capable of cooperating with their neighbors, even to save their own butts, of any population in human history.
Many of the people who think they are "preppers", who think they are righteous and just, are just in too big a hurry for an opportunity to inflict their personal insanity upon some other people, against those other people's will. From any patriot's perspective, these thumpers are just as bad as the inner-city thugs, and they will meet the same resistance.
Over half the population is armed to the teeth; not a bad thing; it's just a fact.
In spite of some efforts we've seen toward civility during storms or blackouts of the past decade, any prolonged disruption of electricity, food, fuel, transportation, etc., while Obama is in office, is likely to turn into Mad Max coast to coast.
Thanks for the post/link; links; suggested reading; first-hand experience off the grid; possible scenario of devastation; comments.
BE PREPARED BUMP!
Just my eedy beedy smart phone, I’m lying in the bunk and tapping away even now ;^)
Also have to consider the nature of our current JIT(just in time) supply system that’s in use today for most grocery stores and other businesses. Any disruption in the grid along the supply chain brings the entire house of cards down.
If it hits the fan, most grocery and department stores will be picked clean within a matter of hours, and they WON’T be resupplied. Because of this, if you aren’t prepared BEFORE hand, you are thoroughly screwed. Imagine, it’s the middle of Winter, and the only thing between the starvation of you and your family is the generosity of others.
For the cost of an iPad or a flat panel display, one could easily store enough preps to hold the family for 3 months or more(depending on how you spend). The iPad or flat panel TV will NOT help you if/when the grid goes down. When it comes to a dead battery or no electricity, there’s not an ‘App for that’......
When my wife gets frustrated and starts railing against people behaving badly or stupidly, I respond, "Take comfort in the fact that they, not us, will be among the first to die."
NYC will be a ghost town within a year after the fact.
My favorite movie of all time. I watch it at least twice a year.
The way that you wander
Is the way that you choose.
The day that you tarry
Is the day that you lose.
Sunshine or thunder
A man will always wonder
Where the fair wind blows.
Where the fair wind blows.
month. within a month. A tad longer out in the sticks.
Extended power outage is my #1 prep. As I must pump my water from a well, and keep food from spoiling, independent power source is vital. Long-term fuel supply for that source is also vital. Physical security to protect above, too. Naturally, food stores as well.
Exactly. Even the big power conglomerates don't have enough to replace downed trnasformers at these sub stations.
A coordinated attack by any group, Muslim or otherwise, armed with nothing but cell phones, 30-06 rifles with scopes could put us back to the 1600s in one afternoon.
Plus, "the grid" isn't something you just flip a switch on and get her going again. A restart protocol takes time. If we were hit hard enough, we could be looking ata 5-10 year period without a power grid as we currently enjoy.
One year ago we in TX had some serious blackouts, which can’t happen, because TX is not only self-contained but a net power exporter, right?
Wrong. Two plants in N TX had their cooling ponds freeze in a freak deepfreeze front and had to be taken down, cascading all over the state.
It didn’t even get THAT cold, I think 18o for two nights was the worst of it, but we sure went down hard.
495 posts...Going Off Grid - Montana Style!...(with lots of good posts/links)...
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/guest-post-going-grid-montana-style
Thanks to informative, educational posters at zerohedge.
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