>> it’s my understanding that a celestial EMP event like a directed X-class flare would decimate anything electrical <<
I think you’re confusing the effects of a “Carrington-like” solar flare with the effects of a nuclear EMP. Different animals, but both terrible to contemplate.
A big enough solar flare, a la Carrington, could knock out the electrical systems of every country on earth, unless adequate protection should be installed. But such a flare wouldn’t necessarily destroy electronic equipment that’s not connected to the electrical grid — even though one might question how useful the said equipment would be without a ready electrical supply!
On the other hand, a big enough nuclear EMP should destroy the electric grid WITHIN ITS FIELD, plus just about any solid state devices within its field that aren’t properly shielded and hardened. In the meantime, electrical and electronic equipment in the parts of the world outside the radiation field should escape damage.
Right, but an EMP would actually “hyper-electrify” anything in its path/radius. This was evident from the Carrington event where even disconnected telegraphy equipment continued to transmit. If capacitors overload in computing equipment despite being disconnected, you’re talking about the loss of almost every piece of computing hardware in the affected area. In the case of a sufficiently large enough X-class flare directed right at us, anything capable of conducting electricity would do so.
Manmade EMP from nuclear/atomic detonation is terrifying to be sure, but the sun is not something we can control, sanction, or mold outside of monitoring and being prepared for when it does happen.