If it is another Carrington type event, we have a lot more electrical wire capture area today compared to 1859. Losing electrical power will be the long term bad news. The immediate impact may be buildings igniting as the wiring catches fire. The telegraph offices caught fire in 1859. Imagine fires and no water pressure to put them out in places where water pressure is derived from electric pumps.
Was there anyone with enough electrical awareness during that event to try to get induced voltage readings off of the lines? These were battery powered, and not constructed to withstand electrical potentials much higher than the batteries’. Modern wiring and insulation practices would survive better, although current surges in unshielded lines could well pop breakers.
Geryl has been very accurate of late.
Only in the broadest sense is this true. History is full of retrograde movements, some of them quite abrupt. Die-offs of half of populations in a decade or less have happened over and over. Sometimes entire tribes and peoples just plain go extinct. (Seen any Mohicans lately?)
We may be winding up for a big one. To beat my tired drum again, just for one example, if anything causes the EBT system to go down hard, our cities will explode in under a week.
Just a blast from the sun could send us over that ledge.