The EMP Threat: All It Would Take Is A Couple Of Explosions To Send America Back To The 1800s

TEC ^ | 04/07/2015 | Michael Snyder

[Kartographer]

There is no such thing as EMP and if there was it would do about as much damage as blowing a fuse.

[Gaffer]

Frankly, you could zombify this country with a two week interruption of basic needs to a majority of the urban areas in this country. Either that or a wholesale cessation of entitlement benefits that goes past 30 days (or less).

[babble-on]

I think I’ll spend the rest of my life worrying about this rather than addressing any problems that I can actually do something about.

[MaxMax]

up to 90% of the U.S. population could possibly perish from starvation,

My guess would be 40% since us Americans are resourceful bunch.
But I can see the 40% dying off in a matter of just three months.

Then there's the invasion and War from the south and within the cites
lasting for years.

[LadyBuck]

Prepper PING

[Jim Noble]

Back to the 1800s?

I’m down with that.

[max americana]

You pretty much described the TV shows Jericho. 40%, that’s about the same percentage of the leeches who voted hopeychangey.

[LadyBuck]

Heh!

[Gaffer]

??? Really? I remember 30 years ago when lightning stuck a tree outside my house and took out a microwave, TV and my computer. Murphy says everything will sacrifice itself to protect the ‘fuse’.

Additionally, I understand the hard fact of a fantastic energy pulse of minuscule pulse length and what the Fourier transform makes of that in the frequency spectrum.

[Hieronymus]

You expressed my thoughts. Randy Travis’ song 1982 also came to mind.

[Gaffer]

The Luddite equalizer then.

[Buckeye McFrog]

I suspect this would be part of any Israeli attack on Iran. As well as blowing-up every dam in the country, and as much of their transportation infrastructure as possible. If the Ayatollahs have to spend a decade or two worrying about how to feed their people, they won’t have much time nor energy to devote to bomb building.

[ßuddaßudd]

Øbama will save us from this and that treat as well . . .

[MacNaughton]

EMP = plot of Brad Thor's 2014 thriller novel, Act of War. The ChiComs orchestrate a plot using Middle Eastern Muslims to transport 6 NorK nuclear bombs into the U.S. The bombs would be lifted into the atmosphere with helium weather balloons. The coordinated strike would cause a series of EMPs that would leave 90% of the U.S. population dead within 1 year, primarily through starvation. Then the NorKs/ChiComs would invade and start huge agricultural endeavors utilizing manual labor.

[Kartographer]

I had a FReeper EMP ‘expert’ who swore that lightening disproves the very existence of EMP and be mindful he was an expert as he had been a radioman in the military. Why would he lie?

[blueunicorn6]

We voted in an EMP strike.

Look at the news.

The Democrats wanted higher energy costs.

An electrical company is shutting down six coal-fired generation plants.

Seen any new nuclear plants?

The Democrats are an EMP strike on this country.

[sassy steel magnolia]

People who are dependent on medical equipment and medicine would die quickly. No instant communication, travel severly hampered, food supplies dwindling, weather unpredictable, law enforcement overburdened, military questionable, mobs storming stores, thugs on the loose, people trying to find food, shelter, safety...and foreign enemies taking advantage of the chaos. God help us!

[Vermont Lt]

I’ve read so much conflicting info about this that I have decided it wouldn’t matter a bit if I were much more prepared than the average bear in terms of emp cages and what not.

After years a reading the worst case scenarios, it appears the most likely scenario would be a localized impact. From what I’ve read, most modern cars would stop, but then start up right away. Stuff in the center of an attack might fry, but in general the impact would be the same as a really bad hurricane across a territory a little larger than average in terms of power disruption—without the physical damage.

[RayChuang88]

The problem is that unless you use a pretty powerful nuclear device (at least in the 300+ KT range), EMP is not as effective as people think. I think that was why the Russians maintained a number of obsolete SS-9 Scarp (R36) missiles in service (long after they were made obsolete by the later SS-18 Satan (R36M)), which had a 20+ MT nuclear warhead that could generate an enormous amount of EMP specifically to knock out large fractions of the American power grid.