[GeronL]

optimists!

I’d say 90% of us would likely be dead in a year.

[scoobysnak71]

A country boy can survive ....

[Crim]

Pffft...some of us are prepared to live in a mad max world...

Everyone else?

Sucks to be you I guess...

Ant and the grasshopper...

[Repeal The 17th]

Is this a vanity of your own composition?
Or did you fail to source this information?
Or what?

[linn37]

About four years so far according to my checking account.

[vetvetdoug]

Living 80 miles from Memphis I think the wandering hoards are my main problem. The best we East of Memphis can do is blow up the bridges across the rivers to keep them away from here while they kill each other off. I have stored six months of food, fuel, and ammo and reconfigured my barn and house gutters to collect water. I figure most US citizens wouldn't last two weeks with the stores closed.

[goodnesswins]

Oh, Joy....I had almost recovered from reading ONE SECOND AFTER.....

[Star Traveler]

Here's some science on the matter of EMP ... it's not as big a deal as some people think ... :-)

http://nextbigfuture.com/2008/08/electromagnetic-pulse-risk-not-total.html

[coon2000]

So we cannot rebuild the grid? the railroads and factories were destroyed in Europe during WWII, we rebuilt them. Why will the grid be forever destroyed so we can never have electricity again? I would think that a rebuild would be a good idea.

[Repeal The 17th]

Which one of these is you?
Google for: Tom Seaward

[GonzoGOP]

Oh come on. A diesel not in operation, especially an older one one that doesn't have electronic fuel control, is darn near immune. Almost all farm equipment is diesel so the farms would be hurt, but not completely incapacitated.

Military vehicles are hardened so most would survive completely unscathed. There will be organized people with some communication and transportation. A M977 HEMMET can move a crap load of food from farm to elevator if you get desperate.

As for how to get the food to the people. Every railroad engineer and dispatcher is trained to operate by paper train orders in case of emergency. They may not do it often, but hey all know how. While some of the newer locomotives with their computer controls would be knocked out, many older diesels would come through just fine. And you can always empty out the railroad museums. Sure the capacity of the railroads would be cut drastically, but one or two trains a day would bring in enough food to prevent starvation. It would be bowl of porridge kind of survival until things got fixed, but hundreds of millions of dead just isn't going to happen from a single EMP burst.

[SiGeek]

I agree all these horrible things could happen if this happened to all electrically fed societies simultaneously.

However if and when we get nuked, EMP or otherwise, I think the US would get resupplied by other countries faster than the 3 yr time frame.

Good for business like a natural disaster is for construction trades and supplies for 100s of miles around.

Still would need to be prepared, but for how long? Longer than Katrina aftermath but less than 3 yrs is my SWAG.

Oh yeah, I guess a solar flare affects the whole electrified world. Well maybe we’ll just get a light touch first — blow out just enough for us to get serious!