A

Okay, lets say you are in your living room watching TV, it's around 4:14PM, sunny outside.

The news interupts your program, it says, "NORAD has detected 9, possibly nuclear ICBMs flying over the North Pole, country of origin is still unknown. Based on their trajectory it seems that they will impact the cities, New York, Los Angelas, your city, Toronto, Calgary, Seattle, Washington D.C, Vancouver, and Dallas. The impact times will vary based on the distance to the North Pole. The first strike will take place at 4:57PM hitting Calgary. The last one will hit Dallas a 5:32PM."

Okay, they got your attention, now what will you do if this was really happening? Obviously, the time you have to react varies form city to city. If you don't live in North America, pretend you do, pick a city. Try to depict it a realistically as possible.

This is a little time line of things I would do, I live in a region of Toronto called Vaughn which is 40KM from downtown:

4:14PM - Get up form the couch, call my parents warn them.
4:21PM - Get a bag, fill it with stuff from my fridge, grab water bottles from my cellar, and get my tool box.
4:29PM - I don't have my car, so I go to my neighbours house. He pulls his car out, I load everything in his trunk.
4:34PM - We start driving quickly NE to the rural areas surrounding Toronto. We can get there in about 15 minutes. We listen to the radio and the said that one of the ICBMs have been intercepted. It appears that Calagry was saved. We continue driving.
4:45PM - The radio says that the one heading for Toronto and will impact give or take 2 minutes at 5:14PM. The radio station tunes out.
4:50PM - We are about 50KM from where I live traveling up the Highway 400 to Innisfil.
4:51PM we notice volume on the highway getting higher and no one was on the southboud so we jump the median and go north on the southbound.
4:56PM - Knowning we are not going to make it in time, we decide to lay flat in a ditch and hope the explosion is far enough.
4:59PM - we parked the car in a corn field beside the highway and lay flat in a ditch. Unload what ever possible with us. The waiting game...
5:17PM - Still waiting.... thinking what if they are wrong?
5:46PM - I finally get up out of the ditch.
5:52PM - Gather all my things and put them in the car. Begin to drive to my uncles house in Barrie 50 KM north.
6:33PM - We make it there and find out the news that Toronto has been hit by an air blast which exploded over down town.

Then before I can return to where I live I must wait for the readioactive fallout to disapate.

Come out with your own scenario, in a timeline or story. Does it have a happy ending or not?

More people might check out this topic if you give it a more descriptive title than "A"

Check the winds and get out of the major cities.

Originally posted by GoldEagle
Okay, they got your attention, now what will you do if this was really happening?

ICBMs ain't cruise missiles, so:

1. the time from launch to impact is at most around 45 minutes. The ICBM flight time from the Soviet Union to the United States was about 30 minutes so your time table looks useless.
2. they follow ballistic, parabolic trajectories which means the country of origin would most likely be known.
3. since flight time is so small, trying to get out of the city if you are in one is utterly futile, your best chance is to find some good cover in time.

So what I would do is either to find some cover if in a targeted area or if not in a targeted area, try to get away from the targeted area and the downwind surroundings.

Well, I dont think that the city I live in would have a missile fired at it since seattle is prety close as it is, but I would gather up a bunch of foo/drink a few items, grab my cat get my mom in the car and drive as far away from seattle and my city as possible.

Thats prety much what I would do.

This reminds me of a joke I heard a long time ago:

Two guys are standing in a bar, talking politics. One says to the other "Okay, the missles are in the air, you have 15 minutes to live. What do you do?" The other guy answers "Try to screw anything that moves. You?" "Try to stand very still..."

Okay, kinda stupid. But I think the sentiment is roughly the same as what I would do. Most likely we wouldn't have enough warning to do much about it. If the missles were in the air and there was no way they could be intercepted, I'd just call as many people I know as I can, tell them what's happening, tell them I love them, and sit back and watch the fireworks. Maybe grab a beer and find a seat outside with a good view. It'd suck to go that way, but at the same time, you'd have one hell of a show to watch in the fraction of a second you have.

I would grab all the things I need, food, drinks, PS2, memory card, my family, and some pillows and blankets. And hopefully, HOPEFULLY, when we leave, we don't run into traffic.

Bend over and kiss my ass goodbye I suppose...

Considering Tampa would probably go toasty-o's... If only a few missiles coming though, I'd just try to get out of dodge, as fast as possible, while calling other family and telling them to do the same.

You'd really only have about 15-20 minutes or so from the time you actually HEAR about them (as first decisions are made, etc.), so you're pretty screwed really...

I'd take roads leading away from the area...not bothering to load up any supplies at all (there simply isn't time folks). If you load up, you'll be stuck in traffic, while folks like me (who just left) are miles away when it hits....

If all out war then occurs, I'll beg, borrow, or take anything I need for me and my loved ones to survive, same as any of you would. But, if only a few nukes and that's the end of it....at least we'd be alive, no matter what else was lost.... While you folks loading up the PS-2, water, whatever, would be stuck in a traffic jam and end up as ashen shadows on the asphalt....

Another idea, if able, is to boatjack a boat and head away...that's the more preferable method maybe....

I have to qualify something that Gaz said but no one has thought about.

You'd really only have about 15-20 minutes or so from the time you actually HEAR about them (as first decisions are made, etc.), so you're pretty screwed really...

Now think of it this way, since there is really no time what's so ever between launch and detonation (remember nukes are very effective at high altitudes) do you really think the goverment would have the time to make such an annoucement? Do you think that they would be so inclined to do so, remember, all such an annoucement would do is to panic people not save anyone.

If they did announce something like this, well as Gaz says, kiss my tail goodbye if I am in a target zone (which I am). If I was in a non-target area, I would be heading for the hills double-pace armed to the gills.

A better scenario is they got no warning like that so BAM your dead and thats what happens

Funny, that wasn't the topic name I gave it.

Hmm...
Bombing my town wouldn't do anything but clear the planet of 18000 inbreeding hics and a bunch of old people. Oh and a large papermill.

I don't think my town is a target.

I suggest watching War of the Worlds. See how it plays out.