[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.

[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.

[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.

[RFEngineer]

“A direct hit from a major solar storm can cause the exact same thing.”

Not true. Your electronics will be unharmed from solar storm effects.

As for a nuclear emp, we know it will destroy some electronics. The grid will go down. How long it will stay down is unknown. We have no idea what the civil infrastructure impact will be.

This is an important topic. Emphasis should be placed on figuring out what will be destroyed and what will not. Hysteria about 90% mortality and 1800s life is just that.

Utilities are starting to stir on this topic....late, better than never.

[discostu]

No it wouldn’t. The EMP threat is grossly overblown. The range isn’t actually very good, to achieve the altitude necessary to blanket the country is actually very tough, plus of course you just put a bunch of the country out of range, and a lot of electronics just won’t be effected for various reasons. The paranoid love ringing this bell every few months, and they’re wrong every single time.

[dfwgator]

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

At least in the 1800s people had the skills to cope, today society would fall completely apart within hours.

[ModelBreaker]

I’m assuming we need world socialism to avoid this threat?

[SuzyQue]

Just curious - if an EMP attack is that easy and so thoroughly disables the opponent, why hasn’t anyone tried one? Or, has someone tried one and the effect wasn’t as expected?

[PapaBear3625]

The US is about 4400 km wide.

Let's say a 1 MT nuke went off in the center of the US. One megaton is about 4 * 10^15 joules. Over a circle with a 2200 km radius (area 1.5 * 10^7 sq km), that's 2.7 * 10^8 joules per sq km, or 266 joules per meter. This assumes even distribution of energy, which won't happen -- much more than half the energy will be radiated into space.

I'm not sure how much actual damage that will do.

[minnesota_bound]

I am more worried about the fireballs over our cities then a voltage spike.