It’s one of the biggest dangers of power outages… And it’s not so obvious…
On Friday night, during rush hour, one of the main train lines leaving NYC to the North “crashed.”
Power went out. The trains ground to a halt. And for hours, the trains weren’t moving down the tracks.
Thankfully
the “crash” wasn’t an actual accident. But this highlights one of the
biggest unspoken dangers of major power outages.
The failure of the major systems that make modern life possible.
Even after service was restored near 9 PM Friday evening, service was still interrupted and delayed.
It would take hours upon hours after power came back on for all systems to be functioning at normal again.
When power goes out, that’s just the start of our troubles…
Yes,
not having power can be dangerous. Especially during a heat wave —
when the grid is most stressed. Power goes out. A/C units stop
working. And rising heat indoors quickly becomes a life or death
scenario for the elderly and other sensitive populations.
But that’s obvious.
During a major outage, the bigger danger is when other systems start to go down.
Public transportation is a big headache — but not much more than that.
But what happens when the pumps that move water throughout your city won’t come on, because they don’t have power?
What happens in an extended outage when gasoline supplies are interrupted, and fuel starts to be rationed?
What about when power is out for days (if not longer) and grocery stores and food distribution are failing?
Normally, power outages are simply small headaches…
It’s
not all that bad to sit in the dark for a few minutes or even a few
hours. In fact, it can be an adventure — especially if you have kids
who are excited about breaking out the flashlights and candles.
But what happens when minutes turn to hours, and hours to days. Or worse, days to weeks, and weeks to months?
We’re
very fortunate that these kinds of outages don’t really happen in the
United States. Or at least, haven’t happened recently.
But
just because they haven’t doesn’t mean they can’t or won’t. In fact,
there are multiple very real and plausible scenarios that would lead to a
full-scale power outage lasting weeks or months.
Hackers holding our power grid for ransom. An EMP attack from Russia, China, North Korea, or rogue terrorists. Those are the two biggest. There are many more. Our aging, ailing grid isn’t built to withstand much.
That’s when things get real. Very real.
A minor inconvenience turns into disorder, as systems and social structures collapse, and chaos reigns.
What happens when food, water, power, healthcare, and modern life’s other necessities disappear?
This is the exact scenario Dr. Peter Vincent Pry warned Congress could cause the death of 9 in 10 Americans…
It doesn’t matter how the grid goes down.
If it stays down for hours and months,
it’s not just the train systems that “crash.” It’s not just thousands
of commuters home late on a Friday evening.
It’s complete and utter social disorder and chaos.
It’s society pushed to the brink. Perhaps even breaking.
That’s when survival will come down to who was actually prepared, and who was just thinking about it.
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