Your opinion, please, Kartographer. In either 2003 or 2004 (forget which- Fall, anyway), there was a solar flare that exceeded X40. Either the Carrington event was even greater than this or our electrical systems have been hardened enough to withstand a lot more.
Which do you think (or some of both) or was electric utility just so unsophisticated that it wasn’t so unusual that it happened?
If you read the article it is talked about and explained.