WaNearly everyone admits that such an event would take out the grid, and leave the mass population without power, food, water and other essential services, triggering riots, chaos and mass death within days and weeks.
A number of people in Congress, Homeland Security, the Pentagon and now the White House are strategizing for the big one, and war gaming out how to protect their critical infrastructure, and perhaps salvage mainstream society as well.
The Daily Mail reports:
The U.S. government are preparing for a catastrophic solar flare which could wipe out power across the world for months.
[…]
The massive electromagnetic pulse (EMP) from solar flares could wipe out power grids, bringing an end to modern civilization as we know it as cellphones, credit cards and the internet were rendered useless.
In the U.S, alone researchers estimate the cost on the fragile economy would be up to $2.6 trillion, according to a 2008 National Academy of Sciences study.
The report warned that power outages after an extreme solar storm could last months or even longer if it wiped out the transformers.
A catastrophic solar storm came terrifyingly close in 2012… With scientists predicting a 12 per cent chance that one could hit by 2022, the White House is preparing a contingency plan.
