[familyop]

"I recall the newer IC’s are quite ESD sensitive, would that also be a factor?"

Yes, simply because they are fragile against low current spikes with low voltage potentials (e.g., as provided by human hands in dry, cool ambients). With atmosphere being the conduit, cases and lines (appliance ground/neutral) can receive wild waveforms. Some engineers and even technicians would know much more than me about this.

But I suspect that lightning arrestors or strong surge protectors, good grounds and shielding around installed appliances would be helpful. ...grounded shielding around inactive, stored components (with innermost insulation--e.g., layers of polyethylene--being a little thicker around stored components to avoid capacitance reach).

Again, my education on the matter is limited, but I have put some time into learning and work on the technical side (no calculus or formal physics here). So, we discuss longer waves. What about shorter waves?

There are also human considerations like those in a recent comment in another thread by lentulusgracchus. There's earth, but various materials could be layered to afford more lightweight protection. There are also oxide and metallic paints used by some to reflect/absorb rays (higher frequencies, a human consideration), electromagnetic waves (lower frequencies, equipment consideration), etc.

Generally, my sparsely educated guess is that power densities and/or exposure periods of longer waves from electromagnetic pulses in any likely event wouldn't be strong and long enough to hurt us (3 Hz to 30 PHz Ghz, or 100,000 kilometers to 10 nanometers). We would be more concerned about 10 nanometer (low frequency end of x-rays, 30 PHz) and shorter waves (down to the shorter non-end of gamma rays).

Going to take a short break with some outdoor work now, to let the muscles in this redneck skull cool off and shrink back to normal. ;-)

[familyop]

Hmmm. Waves...laser beams...education. Here’s something from the center of America’s crib of technical genius, thanks to environmental influences and maybe even an occasional genetic turn... ;-)

Ozark Mountain Daredevils - Chicken Train (Live 1976)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSkN9m7kh9A

[familyop]

"I recall the newer IC’s are quite ESD sensitive, would that also be a factor?"

On second thought, though, when such ICs are in a circuit, the sub-components and lines do collectively survive quite a bit of current. Should we be more concerned about individual components like ICs in a grounded circuit or about whole appliances? It seems that we should more likely consider cases (appliance grounds) going high.