Yep, but the electrical surge created by a flare will. Here is a good example. About 10 yrs. ago lightning struck a tree about 50 feet from my house. It was an intense enough strike, that even though it missed the house, it was enough surge to fry three appliances in my house. Repairmen told that the electronics were the culprit, not electrical. Not the exact same scenario, but very similar and with different scale.
And concerning your comments around the 1989 event. It was a small high lattitude event with local consequences, where there was enough surrounding support structure and resources to address quickly. Also, 1989 was a mere blip versus what was witnessed in 1859. Heck, Auroras were seen throughout the entire northern hemisphere, and some so bright, they could be used to read at night.
I know this is kind of wordy, but I fully disagree that electronics are not vulnerable due to a natural or man made EMP type event.
“I fully disagree that electronics are not vulnerable due to a natural or man made EMP type event.”
Electronics are not vulnerable to a solar flare. Electronics are vulnerable to lots of other things, like static discharge, power quality issues, lightning strikes, poorly designed home electrical systems, electrical code violations and much more.
Vulnerability to a solar flare is entirely dependent on the ability to absorb the energy generated by a geomagnetic disturbance, which requires very large dimension metal structures. Pipelines, power transmission lines, etc.
A solar flare is not in any way like a lightning strike at 50ft.