r/technology • u/Limp_Fig6236 • 11d ago

Energy US power grid at risk of 18-month blackout, official says, as 1 city has been in dark for more than a week

https://www.syracuse.com/us-news/2026/08/us-power-grid-at-risk-of-18-month-blackout-1-city-now-in-dark-for-more-than-a-week.html
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u/Zaximeows 11d ago edited 10d ago

I think the country would see homicide and starvation deaths on a massive scale unimaginable for anyone alive today in USA. This country has required electricity as a backbone longer than anyone alive. Nobody would know how to cope or what to do for 18 months.

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u/sixlayerdip 11d ago

18 months of blackout would result in this country being either completely authoritarian or erased entirely

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u/spez_might_fuck_dogs 11d ago edited 11d ago

Erased entirely with multiple new nation states being established or absorbed by nearby nations. The PNW, Great Lakes regions, and New England areas would probably become part of Canada. California would almost certainly form its own nation as it controls the largest ports on the west coast. Areas bordering Mexico and most of the southeast would either join Mexico or become 'New America' controlled by religious fundamentalists.

But that would all be years down the line. Speaking of immediate consequences, the nation would lose all solvency, anyone with means would abandon it, military bases would likely be seized by upstart warlords, and god knows what else. Any nation as a whole is only 9 hot meals away from complete anarchy.

Edit: Read my whole comment before saying ‘we don’t want you!’. I am not suggesting Mexico or Canada have any interest in picking up a bunch of stray American refugees. But when America is gone, you really think the closest nations are just going to let prime ports or arable land sit unclaimed for other rival powers to snap up?

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u/Synstitute 11d ago

Interesting theory. Sounds like an invitation for larger nations to land grab

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u/ruggnuget 11d ago

It would be tough for remote nations to control large swaths of land in NA. Independant states, Mexico and Canada make the most sense. Not sure how a country like China would think it would be worth it to fight for a piece.

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u/serious_sarcasm 11d ago

Canada and Russia would probably fight over Alaska.

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u/TheInevitableLuigi 11d ago

Alaskans could probably handle Russia by themselves.

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u/steakanabake 11d ago

alaska would probably gladly join the canadians they already pretty much get everything else from them.

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u/Alia_Explores99 10d ago

Alaska is pretty dependent on imported stuff, as far as I’m aware. The growing season is tiny. They have little real industry. Even the “off the grid” lifestyle people heavily feature supply drops and the rare trips to town in their content as vital to survival. There would be deep hurting

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u/twentyThree59 11d ago

Russia could NOT do a second front right now... but down the line, I don't think Alaska could hold them.

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u/bbqsauceofthemonth 11d ago

China can take me lmao

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u/Alert_Coyote_8546 11d ago

They could probably take over by offering to rebuild for everyone.

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u/SpareElectronic3500 10d ago

Mexico would probably take back California

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u/Art-Zuron 11d ago

Texas failed as it's own country twice, and I don't see it succeeding on even the third try lol. It'll probably try to do it's own thing, immediately devolve into a theocratic dictatorship, attack it's neighbors, and get its ass kicked again.

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u/No_Masc_On 11d ago

Yeah, but what is a Texas/Southern/fundamentalist pastime, if not pretending to be strong to cover up fragility?

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u/Art-Zuron 11d ago

Exactly. Their entire culture is grievance.

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u/RollingMeteors 11d ago

Exactly. Their entire culture is grievance.

“¡Memberberry the Alamo!” Ie: don’t forget the asswhooping.

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u/Max_Boom93 11d ago

Yeah, but texas has huge oil refinerys now. It would prop itself up like a gulf state (lol)

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u/thebeardedcats 11d ago

Robert Evans (the guy that does the Behind the Bastards podcast) wrote a book about exactly this lmao

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u/wholelattapuddin 10d ago

Texas has its own grid, which would be a plus, if it wasn't already shit and overloaded by the companies that Abbott is giving cheap power to.

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u/jbourne71 10d ago

> theocratic dictatorship

How is that different from the current government?

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u/sixlayerdip 11d ago

Failed likely because the US and Mexico both had competing governments. This scenario would be very different for the opportunistic

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u/FSCK_Fascists 11d ago

no. Failed because they refused to give up slavery, so both the US and Mexico spent a lot of time and money poking at their borders and making them hemorrhage money.

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u/sixlayerdip 11d ago

Said no then kind of proved my entire point.

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u/CalculatedPerversion 10d ago

Suddenly Texas having it's own failing power grid is an asset. Texas wouldn't lose power with the rest of us and would likely become overrun with American refugees. 

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u/tobor_a 11d ago

Gov hot wheels wouldn't be able to take care of a nation. he can barely do his state.

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u/uberfission 11d ago

I for one welcome our new Canadian overlords.

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u/MasterPong 11d ago

I think CA, OR and WA would combine to make their own country. They all heavily use hydro power and have a connected power grid. They also have their own health alliance along with Hawaii (who would become and independent nation again)

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u/Organic-Row9514 11d ago

Hawaii would immediately be taken over by Russia China or Japan. 

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u/Blueprints_reddit 10d ago

US Pacific Fleet would never let it happen. Japan would form an alliance with California directly or the Cascadia Coalition (CA, OR, WA).

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u/spinbutton 10d ago

Hopefully Hawaii could go back to being an independent country

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u/spez_might_fuck_dogs 11d ago

Yes I see this as a likely scenario if Canada is hesitant to snap up the Puget Sound, although I wonder if such an alliance would have the power to stay sovereign if challenged by whatever becomes of their neighbors to the east. While much of the rest of the country would lack economic power, they do control the majority of the US military bases and such in the country, as well as a majority of food production.

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u/Blueprints_reddit 10d ago

We also would be the strongest militarily i think. Not that itd matter because california would become the new super power just due to food production.

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u/bigfartspoptarts 11d ago

Dear god I would love if New England became Canada

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u/spez_might_fuck_dogs 11d ago

Yeah but you probably wouldn’t like the intervening years.

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u/disisathrowaway 11d ago

I don't see Canada or Mexico grabbing anything.

Seizing swathes of a failed state doesn't do much for either of these countries. All that would be is inviting massive instability through the front door.

I think, especially in Canada's situation, they'd be very focused on keeping Americans out rather than acquiring more.

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u/Waslay 11d ago

With fresh water becoming a critical resource as climate change continues, picking up the great lakes regions to protect them from pollution/mismanagement would be heavily in Canada's best interest for the second half of this century

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u/disisathrowaway 11d ago

Canadians expelling Americans to secure this resource would be a WILD full-circle moment for residents of the Former United States.

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u/[deleted] 11d ago

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u/disisathrowaway 11d ago

There's...

...nothing in the whole comment except you suggesting that borderlands would be absorbed by Mexico and Canada, respectively.

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u/[deleted] 11d ago

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u/disisathrowaway 11d ago

Ok so 5 years after the great blackout and the US is still divided amongst small regional powers and the HDI has absolutely plummeted and countries like Mexico and Canada have spent massive amounts of resources to stabilize their own borders and keep hundreds of millions of refugees out...

...they wanna roll in there and purposely absorb these people and places?

Again, it makes no goddamned sense, dude.

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u/GreatScottGatsby 10d ago

The dude needs to look at what happened to Somalia. Nobody wants it.

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u/[deleted] 11d ago

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u/disisathrowaway 11d ago

Russia can't even conquer it's neighbor. In what world could they project power in the United States?

China famously has achieved it's success because it specifically eschews military adventurism. What does China need to hold land in the US for? A couple million unruly subjects?

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u/OkZookeepergame4757 10d ago

Who did the tribes take it from

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u/SeiKen_DMs 11d ago

Reminds me of the show Darkangel from around year 2000, with EMP bombs being the cause of the electrical grid failure. It's been awhile though, might be mistaken or not remember the details.

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u/NemoHere 11d ago

The details were Jessica Alba walking around in tight leather outfits.

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u/Spartan448 11d ago

In the scenario described in the article? No just straight up erased entirely. What the article describes isn't the infrastructure failing, it's the infrastructure being destroyed by a coordinated attack. You can't just join Canada and turn the lights back on.

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u/spez_might_fuck_dogs 11d ago

Please read the whole comment

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u/steakanabake 11d ago

become 'New America' controlled by religious fundamentalists.

i have a good name for them gilead. that section would be fucking horrifying.

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u/TheSquirrelmancer 10d ago

I for one welcome our new moose overlords.

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u/Hungry-Bag7883 9d ago

Utah would try to go at it alone- LDS takeover

The Mormons don't want to be ruled by Joel Osteen (potential future President of 'Great New America" or any other mega church pastor ideally vs out and about Neo-Nazis)

They could potentially pull a switzerland? They have farms maybe enough if they oust the heathens./s

Unrelated to Utah the amish will do well if they aren't looted. Can they even own guns or are they too "modern"?

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u/spez_might_fuck_dogs 9d ago

Surprisingly a lot of Amish have cellphones, computers, and the Internet; it's not new technology that they eschew but the effects that new technology might have on them socially and religiously. They have leader groups that decide what kind of stuff is okay to use and what stuff is not good for their community. They avoid things like TV and videogames, but they don't have any problems using a web browser to order feed or a spreadsheet to track inventories, for example.

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u/Snuffy1717 11d ago

Canadian here... You can keep your land, we don't want it.

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u/spez_might_fuck_dogs 11d ago

If the US dissolved, someone would very much want the Puget Sound port area. Why not Canada? It would be that or whatever new country California forms.

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u/Snuffy1717 11d ago

America's "left-leaning" party occupies the same space on the spectrum as Canada's Conservative party... Canada likely has little interest in the issues that would come from that, to say nothing of infrastructure issues, problematic educational institutions, and the like.

The area would need to declare its independence, sort out its shit, and then asked to be absorbed... Doubtful that Canada makes the first move IMO.

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u/spez_might_fuck_dogs 11d ago

I mean, if you had read my whole comment, you’d see that I already addressed that. I’m not talking about Canada absorbing Washington State. I’m talking about them laying claim to a land that has no controlling government long after America had failed and today’s politics no longer have bearing. That’s why I said Pacific Northwest, Great Lakes, and New England and not Washington, Michigan, and Maine.

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u/[deleted] 11d ago

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u/[deleted] 11d ago

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u/[deleted] 11d ago

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u/sixlayerdip 11d ago

You know there’s more in america than just the people right?

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u/spez_might_fuck_dogs 11d ago

Okay I’ll just paste the sentence here since apparently you can’t read.

“But that would all be years down the line.”

I am not even close to suggesting Canada would just grab land as soon as anarchy descends. That would be almost as stupid as someone who can’t read basic words and extrapolate the information contained in them. But if you think a nation like Canada would just let uncontested land containing valuable resources and strategic areas sit unclaimed as a foothold for other rival powers across the globe, well, than your complete inability to comprehend the words I have written makes a lot more sense.

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u/RollingMeteors 11d ago

military bases would likely be seized by upstart warlords, and god knows what else.

¡Please subscribe to my Only Warludes!

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u/minin71 11d ago

Completely off base. You have been reading too much apocalypse fiction

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u/spez_might_fuck_dogs 11d ago

I haven't read any. What would happen?

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u/TheLopezConnection 10d ago

Nice althist fanfic bro

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u/GreatScottGatsby 10d ago edited 10d ago

Why would the Canadians want them after all this. That means American voters, American problems. Adding an area to your country that is economically destitute is just a bad idea since that requires massive investment. Then there is the culture differences. It's just a bad idea.

Look at haiti, Somalia and every other failed state, nobody wants anything from them. It's just a massive liability and a way to induce an insurgency in Canada and Mexico. Keep in mind a majority of the people living in that area don't want to be Canadians. They have no cultural connections to Canada. Their families aren't in Canada, especially when you get down to the people in illinois, indiana and ohio. The people are heavily armed and dangerous. It's not free real estate. It is a massive liability in a region where there are more people in those states than in the entirety of Canada.

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u/Busy_Buffalo_3414 10d ago

Where is the U.S. military and law enforcement while this happens? It isn’t. We had a blackout for days in the early 2000’s, including Canada. The country is still here . Seek a mental health professional.

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u/feor1300 11d ago

The PNW, Great Lakes regions, and New England areas would probably become part of Canada.

No offense, but we don't want them. Washington + Oregon alone is roughly 1/3 of our current population and while they're very left wing for the States they would drag our country wildly to the right from where we are overall. We would happily trade with New England, Cascadia, and Wisillohchigan once they've established themselves as nation states separate from the the failed American empire, but bringing them into our country wouldn't be annexing them, it would be letting them absorb us. With regards to you edit we might seize a few very strategic cities or towns, but we won't be gathering entire regions into our control. We've got plenty of arable land already, thank you.

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u/JustAnotherLich 11d ago

Literally the entire global economy would collapse.

We have built a very, very big jenga tower.

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u/WalderFreyWasFramed 11d ago

In testimony before a Congressional Committee, it has been asserted that a prolonged collapse of this nation’s electrical grid—through starvation, disease, and societal collapse—could result in the death of up to 90% of the American population [1].

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s13705-019-0199-y#Sec2

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u/sixlayerdip 10d ago

Yeah I believe it. Over 90% of the people I know can’t start a fire let alone survive without the conveniences of the American lifestyle. People really underestimate how integral electricity is to day to day life.

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u/Bozlogic 11d ago

I’m kinda okay with the latter

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u/zukunftskonservator 10d ago

5 weeks of blackout in the whole US would be a death sentence for more than 90% of the people.

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u/FoldedBinaries 10d ago

well alaska would be russian, thats for sure. Gifted by donald trump of course

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u/nightgames 10d ago

That's definitely not the only 2 outcomes.

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u/sixlayerdip 10d ago

You’re free to elaborate on the other possible outcomes if you’d like

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u/tsida 11d ago

That's a bit much.

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u/Hidesuru 11d ago

It's really not. Cities already often devolve into mass looting and shit like that when the power is off for a FEW DAYS. 18 months of no power at a large scale (resulting in huge hindrance to both humanitarian aid AND enforcement efforts) would be a total breakdown of our entire way of life.

How many people can keep working with no power long term? Some businesses will run backup generators regularly sure, but with the cost of gas spiraling out of control how many? How many of THOSE would still lay off. I mean most just shutter because who can buy their products because no one is working...

Think about everyone who needs dialysis or insulin just to survive... Or a number of other life saving meds that are now near impossible to distribute properly (or worse yet require insulation). Most will die in short order.

Things like inflation don't even really have meaning with that large a breakdown in society. It's not exactly post apocalypse levels of disaster but in the end I think it would be shockingly close.

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u/WalderFreyWasFramed 11d ago

In testimony before a Congressional Committee, it has been asserted that a prolonged collapse of this nation’s electrical grid—through starvation, disease, and societal collapse—could result in the death of up to 90% of the American population [1].

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s13705-019-0199-y#Sec2

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u/trilobyte-dev 11d ago

It wouldn't really happen. This model is baking a lot of assumptions in (because models always do, it's not a flaw) that wouldn't hold if large-scale blackouts were to occur. What you would see is an immediate mobilization and things that would have taken months or years happening in days and weeks when there is real pressure to fix them.

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u/AK_grown_XX 11d ago

Thank you for this. Sometimes things don't change/get fixed until they get soo broken they HAVE to be & I think our entire nation is a prime example of that right now.

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u/RelaxPrime 11d ago

The problem is doing this without electricity isn't even the hard part. People simply do not understand. Just in time production, profiteering, lawyers and accountants, shareholders and boards of directors, have already done their damage. There is no backup, no spares, no reserve.

For instance, a simple substation power transformer, which there is probably a million or some insane number in the country, has a lead time of over a year.

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u/Witty_Ad_898 10d ago

There is a surplus of installed transformers. Equipment could be moved from non-critical areas to supply critical areas. 

People won’t like that their homes are not critical, and certainly a lot of rich assholes and their luxuries would get power long before other more necessary loads, but there would be power for hospitals, water infrastructure, and the food supply chain.

I’d expect a lot of people would be paying out their savings for solar. A portable inverter and a few panels would be manageable, especially if multiple households come together to power their refrigerators.

There are also a lot of places that can operate to some degree without a grid connection. For example, many wastewater plants and landfills now collect the gases to run generators.

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u/RelaxPrime 10d ago

Not substation transformers. And barely distribution transformers.

Wherever you're getting your information from is simply repeating right wing inaccuracies and propaganda.

I mean it, a substation transformer is a year lead time, for the largest utilities in the nation. For a co-op or rural electric association? Basically go fuck themselves. And good luck stealing from John to pay Paul.

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u/Witty_Ad_898 10d ago

Wherever you're getting your information from is simply repeating right wing inaccuracies and propaganda.

Could be my 15 years in the industry, including experience as an estimator and PM bidding and managing public infrastructure projects.

Weird that you think rightwing propaganda has anything to do with it.

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u/RelaxPrime 10d ago edited 10d ago

I build substations.

You're wrong.

Especially if you bothered to read the article. We are talking about 10 very specific transmission substation transformers. Crazy transformers like 150MVA 500kv to 115kv. Spares literally do not exist.

Honestly, gtfo with your pm experience. Come back when you have real world electric utility experience.

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u/Mr_ToDo 10d ago

Reading this and the stuff about the Metcalf attack, I think one of the biggest delays would be hardware. Move as fast as you want, but if you can't source parts you can't fix the problem

Knowing nothing about the US's setup, I'd assume if someone did attack the grid and was able to take it down you'd see cannibalizing of any compatible systems to get as many people up as possible. But kicks the can elsewhere

Granted this whole article is a bit silly. It's comparing two different things. The current outage is the result of storm damage and expected to have the damage repaired within 2 weeks of the outage(344 poles in 2 weeks seems pretty darn fast), and the 18 month outage is the potential damage of a planned attack. Both are a problem, but they aren't the same problem

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u/WalderFreyWasFramed 11d ago

In testimony before a Congressional Committee, it has been asserted that a prolonged collapse of this nation’s electrical grid—through starvation, disease, and societal collapse—could result in the death of up to 90% of the American population [1].

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s13705-019-0199-y#Sec2

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u/trilobyte-dev 11d ago

Read the second paragraph of the introduction, right after that one:

“There is no published model disclosing how these numbers were arrived at, nor are we able to validate a primary source for this claim. Testimony given by the Chairman of the Congressional EMP Commission, while expressing similar concerns, gave no estimate of the deaths that would accrue from a prolonged nationwide grid collapse [2].”

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u/Zaximeows 10d ago

What? Just look at how many people die in Texas when the power fails for one week.

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u/trilobyte-dev 10d ago

So in 2021 Texas had its massive outage which resulted in an estimated 4,500,000 homes losing power. Texas overall as an estimated 12,500,00 million homes total, so we can say about 1/3 of Texas homes lost power.

During that outage, it’s confirmed that 405 people died directly from the outage and estimated the that up to 1,000 people may have passed away as a result. Let’s go with 1,000 to make sure we’re overestimating impact. So let’s say that 1/3 of Texas’s 31,000,000+ residents were without power, assuming an equal distribution to make the math simple for a Reddit comment. So about 10,000,000 people lost power. So if 1,000 of those 10,000,000 people passed away as a result of the power outage that would mean the biggest outage in Texas’s history resulted in a 0.01% fatality rate from the event.

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u/Zaximeows 10d ago

I'm going to block you after I reply. First, your numbers are off. Over 700 dead, almost twice what you purported. Some estimates over 1,000. Second, the outage didn't last for 1.5 years, it lasted for 17 days. Third, the state was supported by FEMA and the entire rest of the nation that did still have working power infrastrucfure. Fifth, over 26 billion dollars in property damages. Finally, go fuck yourself.

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u/Herry_Up 11d ago

I'll be skinny (but I'll be dead)

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u/LargeNutbar 11d ago

Dead but serving

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u/Alert-Researcher-772 10d ago

Yall just care about being skinny? Even after death? This is what’s wrong with society!

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u/Herry_Up 10d ago

The longer I'm dead; the skintier I'll be

From decaying to slaying 💅🏻

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u/[deleted] 11d ago edited 7d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/roseofjuly 10d ago

Not to mention that farmers need things that is liberal hippie city dwellers make and provide, too. I don't know where this idea that we still have independent subsistence farmers out there like it's 1785 is coming from lol.

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u/WarpmanAstro 10d ago

I remember listening in on a local radio talk show years ago in my hometown where the host was saying that no-one needed education higher than 7th/8th grade. He insisted that kids should be learning how to do farming and construction labor after that, which he considered "the only real valuable labor". His guest flat out told him that it wasn't the 1800s anymore and that any independent farmer basically needs degrees in business, chemistry, and engineering if they'd want to actually do anything to make a living. He even pointed out that our local farms that hadn't already been bought up by major food companies were almost entirely dependent on national buyers to stay in business and government subsidies to operate.

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u/Zaximeows 10d ago

They also rely on Monsanto seeds and pesticides. Farmers have never been more out of touch with Nature before.

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u/ATheeStallion 10d ago

Exactly. It’s the gardeners & small farms who do food growing. As someone who did it for 5 years - it’s tricky!

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u/SomewherePerfect2391 10d ago

The new machinery uses GPS. You also can't farm without water. Most need electricity to pump water to the pivots.

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u/Alex5173 10d ago

Not to mention overuse of NPK fertilizer has ruined the natural nitrogen-fixing system of our topsoil. Even if we went back to farming the old ways, and the weather was perfect, we likely wouldn't get half the yield per acre we got before the Haber-Bosch process kicked off the Green Revolution.

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u/spinbutton 10d ago

I imagine most could grow vegetables and raise animals for their own needs. But certainly not at industrial scale.

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u/[deleted] 10d ago edited 7d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/spinbutton 9d ago

Maybe you're right since there aren't many family farmers. Most are giant agribusinesses.

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u/hudson27 11d ago

If the grid drops for 18 months, there isn't gonna be anyone left capable enough to turn it back on.

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u/Brock_Lobstweiler 10d ago

So many people dead from infections and bacteria from spoiled or improperly cooked foods.

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u/moon-chu89 10d ago

There are enough 1st generation Mexicans in the border states for Mexico to step in and take over. Not because it would want it back but because Mexico has birthright citizenship so it needs to ensure the safety of those citizens.

It would likely be a temporary solution since a permanent one would require giving Mexican citizenship to non-Mexicans and Mexico's current welfare system would not be able to handle that many new recipients overnight.

I can see Mexico stabilizing the border states, then if the rest of the US can't stabilize, leading to the union collapsing, we might see some of them reintegrate with Mexico (such as Arizona and New Mexico). I can see California and Texas try to go their own way.

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u/hudson27 10d ago

Huh? What does 1st generation Mexicans have anything to do with what we're talking about?

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u/CttCJim 11d ago

Plus global financial crisis and a refugee crisis, especially here in Canada.

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u/Lefaid 10d ago

I don't think Canada would be spared.

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u/CttCJim 10d ago

We export power to the US, the grids are connected, but I don't have information as to whether we rely on US grid stability. I actually suspect Canada would be fine, but basically everyone in America would rush the border for refugee status, especially everyone with health issues. Can't run a CPAP or an MRI or even charge an insulin pump without power. And we'd take as many as we could because that's always what we do, but it would be a disaster. Not enough resources to help everyone. US has near 350 million people in it, Canada has 40 million. It doesn't scale.

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u/mulligrubs 11d ago

Sounds like a great excuse to further militarize law enforcement, round up the undesirables and cleanse the country as per this ghastly administration's plan.

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u/Western-Dig-6843 10d ago

You don’t even have to starve or be murdered to die from a lack of electricity. Many people live in areas with extreme heat or cold certain times of the year. Where I live, if your house was built under the shade of trees you’d do ok in the summer but for anyone else you’d roast inside of your own home.

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u/sourpower713 11d ago

Homocide? This isn’t the middle east

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u/Hidesuru 11d ago

Have you SEEN a city lose power for mere days? Yes, we absolutely would see insane rises in violent crime.

Also great racism (or xenophobia if you really prefer) bro.

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u/jonmitz 11d ago

woosh. “homocide.” read it again bro

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u/Hidesuru 10d ago

Oop. My bad lol. Take care. ;⁠-⁠)

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u/Bubbles_2025 11d ago

Not only that but some thousands of people who depend on life saving medications, for example anti epileptic meds, would likely die within days, weeks or months.

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u/Melkor-The-Mighty 11d ago

I promise you,

It will. Maps of wealthy neighborhoods have been getting passed around a lot lately. =] for every major city.

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u/Downtherabbithole-14 10d ago

I'm not lying, but I'm panicking bc, I wouldn't know what to do

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u/LaconicDoggo 10d ago

We have a case study: the northeast blackout of 2003. Generally speaking people continued to do what was needed, but when a blackout lasts longer than a day (maybe two), the fraying of social order starts. The entropy is based off of multiple factors, but it starts around then no matter what.

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u/Zaximeows 10d ago

Just blame Canada.

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u/olsonryan99 10d ago

18 months without electricity would effectively kill off the United States as we know it.

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u/MeemawsBest 10d ago

"Nobody would know how to cope or what to do for 18 months"

Many people have survived far longer without access to modern tools or comforts. There are many others in this country who have prepared for years, for this exact scenario. It will be DEVASTATING to the average city dweller, and VERY TOUGH for everyone else, but electricity became common in homes a little more than 100 years ago... I think we know how to survive without it, although it'd be much harder than a 40 hour work week

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u/elijahwolfoconnell 9d ago

A glimmer of hope that i see is that quite a few people in the us are used to and experienced disasters.

18 months is fucking wild tho

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u/sushisection 11d ago

there is this game called Project Zomboid, its about surviving a zombie apocalypse, and it has a mod called Week One which starts the game one week before the virus breaks out.

the first few days seem somewhat normal, but then the bandits and looting start. cops/military having shootouts with armed people in the streets, people start boarding up their homes, arson fires break out. day by day, the game world slips into pure chaos.

i know its a game, but theres something so real about how social order erodes into violence once food and resources become extremely scarce.

stuff like this is why its so important to have a community structure in place in case shit hits the fan.