Granted, a tad bit less electrical devices to play havoc with...
I had a guy on a thread not long ago making all kinds of pronouncements as to the non-effects of such sun activities and he claimed his expertise came from having operated a ham radio and his experiences with sun spots activity. When I ask him about the Carrington event not only did he not know what it was, but claim as it happened long before his time it had no bearing on the discussion and because I did know what it was I became ‘The Professor’.
The article says that the typical CME takes several days to reach earth, and the superstorm observed in 1859 took 17.6 hours. In either event, there would be at least some warning time. Question: if electronic equipment was turned off, would it be ok? If so, that would be an interesting scenario: a big solar storm is coming, and the challenge would be to power down as much as possible to ride it out.
My maternal grandfather was a senior engineer with Western Electric/Bell Labs, and as a young electrical engineer [circa 1915] was personally acquainted with Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Alva Edison, Nicola Tesla and other pioneers of the electrical/telecommunications industries. I learned about the history of the Carrington Event at a very young age, and I can tell you: the stories about the nightmares it caused for railroad telegraphers and signal lines maintainers are legendary.