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6 Things That Will Happen If Our Power Grid Goes Down
Imagine if you will, what would happen if you pulled an American family from the 19th century, and plopped them in the middle of downtown Los Angeles during rush hour. They’re not given a warning, they’re not given any kind of primer on what they’re about to experience, and the occurrence is completely inexplicable. How long do you suppose they would last before they cried uncle? Would they even survive? The odds probably aren’t so good.
Of course, the reverse is probably also true. If you and your family were wrenched from the comforts of the present and hurled back into a previous era, you might not fare so well either. Your survival odds would probably be a little better since you have hindsight and an understanding of germ theory. However, it would still be a pretty alien world for you. It would be littered with pitfalls that most modern people can’t even imagine.
6 Totally Insane Things That Will Happen If Our Power Grid Goes Down
And that’s why it’s so important for everyone to prepare for the possibility that one day our grid could go down in a big way, whether it be from a terrorist attack, cyber attack, nuclear war, or solar flare. If our society suffered a widespread power failure that lasted for weeks or months, it would be no different for us than if we were suddenly sent back to the 1800’s. It would be a strange and dangerous world, and for the average person, it would catch them off guard in the following ways:
1. All commerce will cease. The ATMs won’t work, the banks won’t open, and the cash registers won’t…well, register. For a while cash will be king, but if the crisis goes on for more than a few weeks, then people will view it as worthless. We’d be back to a barter economy in short order.
2. Communications will shut down. If you think you can rely on your cell phone to work in a disaster, think again. In a crisis, when everyone instinctively reaches for their phone, that limit is quickly surpassed and the radios on the tower get sluggish, thus causing the fast-busy signal. Mobile analysts estimates that a cell site can handle 150 to 200 calls per second per sector. When a large group are making calls at the same time, the network can’t handle the amount of calls. More importantly, communications with police, firefighters, and ambulance services will cease. Many of the workers in these positions will try to soldier on, and keep doing the best job that they can for as long as they can. However, without ordinary citizens calling them to report crimes and emergencies, they’ll be helplessly watching their communities burn down around them. It won’t be long before they give up, ditch their posts, and return to their families.
3. Without electricity, all forms of fuel that our society relies on will stop flowing. All of our vehicles will be dead in the water, and more importantly, the trucks will stop delivering food. The grocery stores will be stripped bare in hours, and will not be replenished for a long time. Even if you live in an area that is rich in agricultural resources, there may be no food to be had, since those farms rely on fertilizers and farming equipment that must be delivered by trucks.
4. And of course many of those farms will lack water, as will your plumbing. For a couple of days after the power goes out, you’ll still have running water since water towers rely on gravity to feed the water to your home. However, electricity is required to clean that water and pump it into the tower. Once it’s out, that means that you won’t be able to flush your toilet. So not only dehydration be a major threat, but without the ability to remove human waste or wash your hands, every community will face daunting sanitation problems.
5. When the grocery stores are stripped bare, the pharmacies won’t be far behind. Millions of people who rely on life saving medications could die in the weeks and months that follow. But perhaps more shocking is what would happen to the people who aren’t using drugs that are immediately life saving. 13% of Americans are using opioid drugs, which are highly addictive and cause horrendous withdrawal symptoms. Another 13% of Americans are on antidepressants, and likewise, the withdrawal symptoms are pretty problematic. In other words, within a few weeks after the grid collapses, about 25% of your neighbors are going to be in an awful mental state that is not conducive for survival.
6. And finally, one of the most shocking things that people will have to deal with, is the lack of GPS. The GPS satellites will probably keep running, but eventually the devices that read those signals will give up the ghost. These days people are pretty reliant on GPS for directions, and there aren’t as many paper maps lying around. The average person is going to be utterly lost if the grid goes down.
In summary, law and order will break down at every level, and death will be around every corner. It’s one thing to grow up and live in an era that lacks electricity, but to be sent back to such a time on a moments notice would be one of the most challenging things that a person accustomed to modern amenities would ever face.
35 Comments on "6 Things That Will Happen If Our Power Grid Goes Down"
onlooker on Wed, 1st Mar 2017 6:24 am
Or to condense. People will die
makati1 on Wed, 1st Mar 2017 6:53 am
onlooker, more than many realize. How much cash do you have on hand? I bet most here have less than a few days worth. How long will there be any necessities left to buy with it? 24 hours? Less? Meds? Just lack of insulin will kill millions. Cold (if in winter) will kill millions more. Most heating systems take electric to operate. And on and on.
Next time you buy gas, ask the attendant for one of those free maps of your state the oil companies give away. Oops! They vaporized decades ago. But then, most Americans couldn’t read on if they had to. Maybe they still have yjem for sale? Yep, collapse is going to be such fun! NOT!
Cloud9 on Wed, 1st Mar 2017 7:47 am
NASA predicts we have a one chance in eight of a solar flare taking down the grid. My buddies on the left are convinced Trump is going to start a nuclear war with the same people they claim got him elected. My buddies on the right are convinced that John McCain and the deep state are trying their damndest to start a nuclear war with Russia. Just one nuke properly located detonated at a high enough altitude would take down the grid. Then there is the potential for economic collapse accompanied by a supply chain collapse that would result in open urban warfare. That could shut down major portions of the grid. So, the potential for a shutdown is real.
Unless you have lived through a partial shutdown you have no idea of the interconnected consequences of a prolonged power outage. Those of us who lived in Highlands and Hardee Counties here in central Florida got a taste of this scenario when three hurricanes targeted our region back in 04. Miles of power poles were snapped like twigs on highway 636. The transformers on the lines that supplied my neighborhood exploded one after another. Watching them go off was spectacular and frightening at the same time.
The first thing that struck us was the total darkness that followed the event. We were all accustomed to the light pollution that permeated the night sky. We were unprepared for the total darkness that followed. A sky full of stars was amazing. Refrigerators began to immediately defrost. People cranked up their grills and the air was filled with the smell of barbeque all up and down the street. We all ate very large for the next couple of days. Those that had R.V.s cranked up their propane refrigerators and salvaged some of the food. Most of the frozen vegetables rotted. One in five hundred had a generator. Within five days most people were completely without food.
Sewage began to backup almost immediately. The lift stations ran on electricity and hundreds of homes could not flush their toilets. Those of us who were on septic tanks learned very quickly that toilets could be flushed with a five gallon bucket half full of water. Those of us who lived on the edge of lakes and streams had plenty of water to flush with. Those on sewer or with no access to water began to embrace the stench that filled their homes.
The water companies ran out of diesel for their backup generators. Within two weeks we were out of water. There was none for drinking, none for washing and none for bathing. We all endured this with 90% humidity and 90 degree heat.
Grocery stores, pharmacies, all kinds of retail simply shut down because no one knew the price of anything because the scanners could not read the bar codes. Some intelligent managers gave food away at restaurants and grocery stores before it spoiled. Most of the food rotted.
There were no traffic lights on highway 27 or anywhere else. There were no police patrols. There were no land lines and all the cell phone towers were out of power. There was no communication with anyone to include 911. Gas stations still had gas in their tanks but they had no way to pump it. People began to run out of gas.
Two things kept our community from experiencing the zombie apocalypse. First off, everybody realized that the damage was local. Radio stations kept the public informed as to the progress in restoring the grid and informed the public where supplies could be picked up. The second calming thing was the visible efforts of hundreds of line crews from all over the United States working every day light hour to restore the grid. We all knew that our plight was temporary. That knowledge made all the difference in the world.
A million people without power for a few days can be contained. Three hundred million without power and no prospect of getting it restored is a whole different paradigm. It has previously been said that we are roughly nine meals away from chaos. From what I have personally seen, I believe this to be absolutely true.
Our experience here in central Florida has schooled us. Most of us who can afford it, have generators that run on propane. Most of us have wells as alternate water sources. Most of us have a month’s supply of food on hand, and most of us are well armed. A few of us have plans to flee to the scrub in the event of total collapse.
The odds are that we will limp along for another decade or so experiencing brown outs and gradually people will adapt. If the grid goes down in a nano second, there will simply be collapse and all that collapse brings. Make your own choice.
Ghung on Wed, 1st Mar 2017 8:54 am
Light-weight article; I’ve seen better on the subject A pretty simplistic list.
Some cell towers have battery backup, but they wouldn’t last long. In an EMP, they would be fried anyway.
Anyway, I wouldn’t notice until it became clear all communications were down, or gridweenies started showing up at my place. If it was clear it was going to be an extended outage, I would fire up the extra freezer and have my nearby family members bring their frozen food over. No point in wasting good ice cream.
Jerry McManus on Wed, 1st Mar 2017 10:26 am
I’ve just finished binge-watching the first season of “Walking Dead” a popular TV series about a zombie apocalypse which I hadn’t previously seen.
Yes, I know, zombies are a bit overdone, well more than a bit, but all the same I enjoyed it anyway.
Not a bad depiction of the sort of scenario described in this article. The only thing they seemed to really whiff on was the water. Even by the end of the first season folks were still taking hot showers. Really?
They also play down the potential for roving gangs of cannibals, other than the brain-craving zombies of course. I guess the thinking is that zombies don’t bother looting supermarkets, so plenty of canned beans to go around.
If they had leaned just a tad more towards “The Road” and a little less “28 Days Later” it would be just about perfect post apocalypse entertainment.
Apneaman on Wed, 1st Mar 2017 10:35 am
U.S. Monthly Records Summary (temperature)Last 30 Days
High Max – 410
High Min – 323
Low Max – 0
Low Min – 1
https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cdo-web/datatools/records
Apneaman on Wed, 1st Mar 2017 10:36 am
Antarctica hits record high temperature at balmy 17.5°C (63.5°F)
Reuters | 2017-03-01
http://www.timeslive.co.za/scitech/2017/03/01/Antarctica-hits-record-high-temperature-at-balmy-17.5%C2%B0C-63.5%C2%B0F
penury on Wed, 1st Mar 2017 11:00 am
I think the list is mainly garbage.@l there was a form of commerce before and there will be one after. Different/ yes but then all things change.2. Some forms of communication will shut down, and will not be missed. Bye Bye “Facebook” 4. Spent 12 years farming without electricity or petroleum products. Wells work,pails carry water and so do properly located pipes.6 Anyone ever travel without a GPS? Used to be that people could remember where places were and in most cases maps have existed for a few years. Yes it will be terrible, yes people will die and for people who have never lived outside the U.S. pampered society life will be short and brutish, for a lot of people you are talking about a normal existence.
Apneaman on Wed, 1st Mar 2017 11:04 am
Jerry, lucky for the walking dead writers none of the near by nuke power plants in Georgia and Tennessee melted down and poisoned the region. Maybe the walking dead or Homer Simpson were still on control and maintenance??
Apneaman on Wed, 1st Mar 2017 11:08 am
No mention of a major AGW jacked heatwave like Europe has in 2003, Russia in 2010, India in 22015, 2016 and Australia this year. Lets see how fat spoiled white folks manage in 50C plus with no A/C, refrigeration or fans.
Ghung on Wed, 1st Mar 2017 11:23 am
Jerry said; “Yes, I know, zombies are a bit overdone, well more than a bit, but all the same I enjoyed it anyway.”
In the prepper world, “zombies” generally is just a term to describe those who didn’t prep well and fan out into the countryside to feed off of the preps of others. That is what is likely to happen in the event of a total collapse of society.
“The Road” (movie) is a dark look at how humans become cannibalistic, and form small groups that feed off of other humans. It’s up there with “Book of Eli” on my list of more realistic scenarios when TSHTF in a big way.
Apneaman on Wed, 1st Mar 2017 11:56 am
The walking dead is really about human vs human and tribe vs tribe and the zombies represent what will really be a consistent threat – AGW, loss of law & order and resources, etc. It’s the peculiar human tendency to deal with their real world problems and fears through story. Rod Serling did it to great effect with Americas cold war fears through the “Twilight Zone”. One thing about Americans is they have produced many great story tellers. Hell, is there any bigger story than America itself? Why y’all think Trump won? He/they told a story people wanted to hear and it don’t matter that it’s all bullshit. Obama’s hopey changy was pure bullshit too, but got him elected twice and the marketing scum even gave him their highest award.
The Storytelling Animal: The Science of How We Came to Live and Breathe Stories
Where a third of our entire life goes, or what professional wrestling has to do with War and Peace.
““The universe is made of stories, not atoms,” poet Muriel Rukeyser memorably asserted, and Harvard sociobiologist E. O. Wilson recently pointed to the similarity between innovators in art and science, both of whom he called “dreamers and storytellers.” Stories aren’t merely essential to how we understand the world — they are how we understand the world. We weave and seek stories everywhere, from data visualization to children’s illustration to cultural hegemony.”
https://www.brainpickings.org/2012/05/03/the-storytelling-animal-jonathan-gottschall/
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-storytelling-animal
Davy on Wed, 1st Mar 2017 12:00 pm
I haven’t seen anything realistic out of Hollywood concerning a range of collapse scenarios other than the worst cases. Even the book of Eli and Mad Max are unrealistic in scope. cannibalism and pillaging will be part of it but not all of it. Welcome to human history.
Humans love to sensationalize and embellish. Humans hate boring and uneventful. If you want to live with the impression the worst will happen and quickly fine but realize this is your conditioning and anchoring. The realistic scenarios are all over the place both in possibility and location unfoldment. Human nature is all over the place. Some places will come together and others self destruct. It is pretty obvious in some ways and other not so much. The random nature of chaos cannot be predicted.
Cloud9 on Wed, 1st Mar 2017 12:23 pm
The zombie horde is a metaphor for the diaspora of the desperate and therefore extremely dangerous horde that will spill out of the population centers like Miami and Tampa in the event of grid collapse. Everybody from the CDC to the DOD has gamed this scenario. Home Land Security has publicly encouraged the public to prepare for World War Z. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/zombie-alert-issued-homeland-security-article-1.1154245
Since most people are incapable of preparing for such a scenario it is a natural defense mechanism to blow it off.
Apneaman on Wed, 1st Mar 2017 12:53 pm
Davy, stories are not supposed to be “realistic”. When they are in their best form, like the better Bible passage’s, they are meant to convey meaning – tell truths and give hope. If the humans could handle reality they would never have evolved their story telling and listening obsession. It’s a human need as real as food.
Why do you think almost no one likes my story that the humans, by their own behaviour, have caused un-survivable changes to their only home? Not enough hope – ok none at all. I see the humans as a short chapter, maybe even a footnote, in a much bigger story. Our basic elements will be recycled by the earth then the universe, so you see, we will live on forever or at least until this universe ends…..if that happens.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guqFqcV4Po0
Davy on Wed, 1st Mar 2017 1:35 pm
Ape, your stories are nothing special nor a corner on the truth. It has a point of view with some validity but in the end is incomplete as all stories are. Linear thinking does not capture a nonlinear reality. It is those clever ones who think they have answers and know the truth who are deceiving themselves. Both you and I are guilty of this. Yet, we both tend to embrace a reality of the “bad” as opposed to those who only deal with optimism. Optimism is so much easier to play with. If you cannot embrace pessimism like failure in its many forms then that person is a suspect of goal seeking. Yet, we must consider our dark visions as goal seeking although visiting the dark side is much more difficult and demanding. In this sense more is demanded out of us than the optimist. So your point of view of “no hope” is just a subrogation of your own views and does not fit all of reality. But hey, I can relate too bad most people can’t handle the truth of a painful future ahead
Hawkcreek on Wed, 1st Mar 2017 1:42 pm
I still don’t understand how so many people can see the possibility of world shaking problems occurring, but still fail to prepare in any way for any of those possibilities becoming real.
It would feel like living in Chicago without a gun, to me.
Apneaman on Wed, 1st Mar 2017 1:47 pm
In Praise of Sin Taxes
“But taxes, it turned out, were essential to the functioning of a free republic. Our nation’s roads, bridges, airports, trains, water pipes, sewer mains and power grid have rotted almost completely away for lack of maintenance, repair and replacement. Yet taxes remain anathema.”
“Now West Virginia at the moment — and I do mean this very moment — has a budget shortfall of half a billion dollars. The federal debt has reached $20 trillion, and in a couple of weeks the debt limit (the law Congress passed that says, “stop us before we borrow again”) is once again going to throw a monkey wrench into the government money-printing press.
Our legislators are laboring mightily to solve these problems by not raising taxes, even on sins. The West Virginia solons are urgently debating prohibiting bestiality and making the Bible the state book. I swear I am not making these things up. Go ahead, check the links, I’ll wait.”
http://www.dailyimpact.net/2017/03/01/in-praise-of-sin-taxes/
________________________________________ on Wed, 1st Mar 2017 1:50 pm
Apneafag stop teasing me with fake news. As much as i wish it was real it’s not.
Midnight Oil on Wed, 1st Mar 2017 4:46 pm
Well, look on the BRIGHTSIDE…the old Lady will look good enough to make whoopie!
What else is there to do?
Apneaman on Wed, 1st Mar 2017 5:17 pm
Hey blankety blank, you’re the fucking fake and a coward hiding behind multiple fake accounts. Are you new or a repeat offender? I have been attacked by many sock puppets. Why read my comments if you think it’s fake? I know you’re scared. It’s not easy accepting what the humans have unleashed. That you are here and dising me tells me you have taken the first step (anger) to enlightenment. Keep reading and learning and I will help free you. I take no credit – I’m just an instrument. I have helped free many. They do all the work. I just show the path.
For the first time, Chicago experienced a snowless January and February
https://www.timeout.com/chicago/blog/for-the-first-time-chicago-experienced-a-snowless-january-and-february-022817
makati1 on Wed, 1st Mar 2017 7:35 pm
Ap, reality is not in most American’s mental dictionary. They would not know it if it killed them, as it is doing. The last generation to see it are almost all dead now. A few still survive and are probably glad their time is short.
We have shit in our nest to overflow levels. No turning the clock back. No “recovery” or “reset” to an alternate world to inhabit. We are done. The tectonic forces will subsume even the rubble of our cities in a few hundred million years. Nothing will be left to prove we were even here except some junk left on the moon.
But, hey! We had a good run. 10,000 years to get our act together and we failed. Says something about ‘intelligence’ doesn’t it? Even the dinosaurs lasted 160 million years.
joe on Thu, 2nd Mar 2017 1:20 am
When Rome fell, people still had the skills to survive. The political elites moved to the east and that left a gap for the popularly elected pontifex maximus (by that time simply pontiff, and already called ‘papa’ or pope) establish order in the massive political vacuum left by the evacuation of the Senate and Emperor to Constantinople. My speculation is that there will not be enough edable food. So when fridges no longer work and water systems fail you are looking at a month from hell, as the old and sick die first, then people will abandon kids , government will move to a place in a more habitable area, probobly Florida. Government will abandon the west coast and try to hold on to the industrial east and north, they will try to hold on to as much oil and coal as possible knowing they are key to turning back on the lights. The real issue will be the fallout created as a result of decades of cultural and racial mixing, new political orders and religions will try to establish themselves. Rome became Byzantine it did change its language from Latin to Greek and its Religion from Pagan to Christian. Our fall will be from a greater height, expect changes to be even greater, and be open to those changes too. A collapsed world is one of oppertunity too.
makati1 on Thu, 2nd Mar 2017 1:55 am
Yep! Opportunity for the rats and roaches. There will be no one to bury those millions who starve in the first weeks. The Black Plague will seem like a mild cold in comparison. Flies will make the plague on Egypt seem like a mild day at the sea shore.
Government moving? What government? The 30 million employed by governments in the U$ will all go home, IF they are still alive. Do you think they will try to run a government when their families are in danger? LMAO.
Skills? Who? Most Americans think food comes in packages from a market. Electric is that thing in the wall. Etc. I had a friend 30 years ago who could not even change a light switch. Skills? Maybe 1 in 10,000 and they will be the ones to die early in the collapse because they didn’t think it could happen and ere not prepared.
Don’t be in such a hurry to kill off the old people. They may be the ones with the skills, experience and foresight to be prepared and survive.
joe on Thu, 2nd Mar 2017 2:29 am
Yes, in a basic emp/no electricity scenario outlined, many things will survive. People can live without electrical power, sadly though just not in large numbers. Die offs happen fast, bodies rot in days. The Black Plague was a terrible horror, but in England it led to freeing the serfs, in western Europe it saw the old order wiped out and gave way to the foundation of new banking families and new trade ties that in the end was a positive thing, much wealth was transfered to the young and those who could exploit an opportunity. The problem today is that the old are living too long, the young have to wait till their 50s now to get what their parents got in their 30s. Death is normal and important, it gives youth a chance.
makati1 on Thu, 2nd Mar 2017 4:46 am
joe, youth has a chance, but not at the expense of others. Youth has no experience, and usually no wisdom, only the urge to fu… er … reproduce again and again as often as possible. Not a problem for older folks who have time to think and teach and are not governed by their gonads.
The young will be fed into the coming wars (biological/chemical/nuclear) by the hundreds of millions, I think. Few will survive to get old. THAT too is part of history. Some 40 million in the 50 months of WW2. But, we are able to produce 160 million in that same time frame today, thanks to the young fu… er …procreaters. It will take a monstrous war to decimate billions. Or a world wide famine. Whatever.
I plan to survive and watch the end of the story and I am almost 73. I can teach useful skills I learned over my years. Share stories of the past. And cook a mean monitor lizard stew with wild mushrooms and taro. All wild and found on the farm. lol
Cloggie on Thu, 2nd Mar 2017 5:06 am
joe, youth has a chance, but not at the expense of others. Youth has no experience, and usually no wisdom, only the urge to fu… er … reproduce again and again as often as possible.
If we want to keep our “democracy”, a prerequisite would be to take voting rights away from irresponsible young people and only allow those people to vote who at least pay taxes or nurture one or more children. 25 years or older.
A youngster is indeed an empty airhead incompetent f*cker, subsidized by dad and/or the state, who opines that since dad and/or the state subsidize him, dad/state should subsidize the rest of the world as well. There is nothing more irritating than a young “revolutionary”:
http://tinyurl.com/h3t73hb
And females are the worst. We should perhaps even rethink this, after the crash:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffragette
joe on Thu, 2nd Mar 2017 5:40 am
Mak, im not saying there’s no role for the old, i guess I’m suggesting that modern old age has brought its own problems such as sons and daughters having to wait too long to inherit causing its own problems. The old pass their knowledge to the young yes and its really important. In an world without fridges and life support systems the old will die first, and that will have positive results as sad and horrible as it will be.
Davy on Thu, 2nd Mar 2017 6:00 am
You have to allow females and the young a place in the decision making process. Females are half of what makes a society. It is the old people now who are responsible for what has happened in a sense. It is around their time of being in their 50’s when the boomers should have made wise decisions and didn’t. This means the old have proven their inability to govern correctly. This is where we are at now. The future belongs to the young. The old could give a shit. They have the attitude I will be dead anyway so it is their problem.
Our decision making process is a mess today but it is more from the corruption and manipulation of affluence than the issue of young, old, or sex. We need a council of wise men but they would have to be removed from normal life of this affluence. They would not be able to enforce their decisions. It would be those who run the world and whose future depends on good decisions to then decide what to do based on the consul’s wisdom. It is their future so they can chose to take a chance or follow council’s experience. This of course cannot transfer to the global or even the national. This is something that would work for a small community or tribe. This points to why man does not work today.
Man is not constructed to be a global civilization of 7BIL. Small civilizations were OK. They came and went in a cycle as ecosystems do. Their damage was manageable for nature. What we have today is an extinction event from an invasive species in complete domination. All decisions from our species revolve around more of it. We don’t see this because we are part of it but if you step out and look in it is readily apparent.
makati1 on Thu, 2nd Mar 2017 6:20 am
joe, there I agree with you. We are living too long for the numbers we now have. But the young will die also. Most have no idea how to survive without the global economy.
As for the old dying because we won’t have the conveniences we enjoy now… I remember when refrigerators had ice in them to keep food cold and it was made locally. My grandmother canned food. My mother did. I do. Besides that fact that I live where winter never comes and there are year round crops.
The indigenous tribes all over the Ps are doing without electric and surviving quite well. My farm owner’s Aunts live in a home without electric. They are also in their 70s. No meds required.
Yes, in most Western countries with their high levels of drug dependency and obesity, most old people WILL die off early. But so will the young. Look around. Not one in 100 could survive on their own without the system.
tk on Thu, 2nd Mar 2017 1:39 pm
Worst case is not enough.
Extinction event.
No mentioning of nuclear power plants and
spent fuel ponds that depend on electricity?
Additionally…
Chemical facilities, also depend on electricity
to “contain” “toxic stuff” of a broad variety,
as do biological (research) facilities.
…
Comparing the fall of the Roman Empire with today?
…
Never mind.
Antius on Thu, 2nd Mar 2017 2:44 pm
‘Jerry, lucky for the walking dead writers none of the near by nuke power plants in Georgia and Tennessee melted down and poisoned the region. Maybe the walking dead or Homer Simpson were still on control and maintenance??’
Realistically, what do you think would happen?
If they were in a region of heavy ground shine (I.e. within several miles if a melt down) and lived there for the rest of their lives, they might lose several years of life expectancy. But I doubt that would be such an issue if zombies were picking off your buddies, you were in danger of starving from lack of food and rival groups were trying to murder you and steal your stuff. Nothing immediate or dramatic would happen, but for those that lives there for decades, the incidence of certain diseases would be elevated.
As I have said previously (no one quite seems to believe me) the effects of a meltdown on human health are similar to air pollution. Air pollution is a lot worse than people think.
makati1 on Thu, 2nd Mar 2017 6:19 pm
Antius, how many thousands of tons of used radioactive materials ar4e stored there? I think the melt down might just be more than you think. People are already dying from Fukushima. The deaths will go on for a while, until those exposed are all dead. Multiply that by 100+ to cover the u$. Last time I checked there was over 100,000 TONS of the stuff scattered all over the U$ in fancy swimming pools. Do you live near on of them?
dooma on Fri, 3rd Mar 2017 1:26 am
Why do people even bother clinging to the notion that there is something that you can do in the event of a total power failure. I guess the get paid to tell tales.
Let me see, millions of trigger happy armed people. Extreme racial and economic fault lines. A distorted view of the “survivor” peddled by Hollywood and food that comes from shops.
We have had a good run. The nicest thing you could do is euthanise your family before they are raped then eaten.
makati1 on Fri, 3rd Mar 2017 2:14 am
Grizzly picture there dooma, but you are not far off. That is why I am in the Philippines and not the U$. My family is still there, but I cannot change that either. I can only advise them. We are all on our own, wherever we are hunkered down.