If we ever have an extended national blackout.

Within 6 weeks thousands or possibly millions would be dead. Survival would be tough. Not enough wild game to feed everyone. We have about enough for 6 weeks but would start gathering on day one.

originally posted by: notsure1
We we implode as a nation.

Friday we had a huge snow storm here in KC that dumped a foot of heavy wet snow everywhere.

Tree limbs down all over the city. and over 100,000 people lost power in the freezing cold.

We lost it about 3 am saturday and dint get it back until around 7 sunday evening. Stores sold out of generators in hours.

There are still over 40 ,000 people with no power and its in the teens outside and Kansas City Power and light is saying they could be out until late tomorrow.

And since we got ours back on it has flickered a few times so it could go back out again with trees still covered in snow and coming down everywhere.

No lights , no heat, no tv, no computer , and you cant charge your phone .

30 or so hours and I was ready to kill people lol

So imagine if we had a huge EMP or whatever knock out power to most of the country for an extended period of time.

We would implode. lol

Read some post apocalyptic fiction on EMPs and it will turn you into a prepper... I've read at least 50 books on it over the past year or two. It is frightening. The authors do a good job of describing how thin the thread / veneer is that keeps society civil. That veneer comes off very quickly...

The gold standard for this scenario is Bill Forsten's One Second After. Excellent book as he goes into deep detail about how society starts to break down. In the book it takes about two weeks for the SHTF as people are slow to realize the power ain't ever coming back on. The sick and infirm can't get life giving medicine. Food starts running out. Then you get thugs / looters taking advantage of the situation. Not too mention dealing with all the people who are simply stuck because they were far from home when the power went out. Even goes into detail about how people with trade skills become valuable while the lawyers, etc find their skills useless.

Who knows if a true nationwide blackout for an extended period will happen, but everyone should have enough supplies on hand for at least a week.

I have to agree with everyone saying chaos in the cities. Hell, it's 99% there already. Rural America would survive much longer.

originally posted by: jjkenobi
I have to agree with everyone saying chaos in the cities. Hell, it's 99% there already. Rural America would survive much longer.

If it lasted more than a few weeks I would head home.

originally posted by: notsure1

sports got expensive over the years

a reply to: rickymouse

When my son was 14 it was 380$ to play baseball not including his gear.

That was 12 years ago

It's getting rediculous. My granddaughter is a cheerleader, that is getting very expensive. They are even required to join a fitness club in the next town, one owned by the last coach they got rid of because she would make the cheerleaders practice even though they were sick. Some of the cheerleaders also got hurt from her demanding nature and desire to have dallas cheerleader style cheerleaders on her watch. No fun, all work and no risk assessment. She is gone now but created a clone with the assistant she had.

There would be utter chaos in the cities. Rural towns would fair better, but even then they'd have to deal with security issues. There will be a caravan of people coming out the urban areas. In the books I've read, there is always a story arc featuring the scenario with urban refugees.

how extended important part

no one is prepared for 10 years without power and our population must go back with technology so if we lose power that's about 100+ years back

1900 population 76,212,168
2015 population 321,000,000

that's a lot of people that will have to die without power I'm not even including other problems just what we know we could feed without power the reality will be much worse

The longest blackout I've been through was 3 days after an ice storm.
Honestly the hardest part was flushing the toilet being on a well and septic.
A fireplace to keep warm
A grill to cook
A cooler out back for food

originally posted by: notsure1
a reply to: Taupin Desciple

The Amish and other self-sufficient people would be just fine.


No they wouldnt because the crazy starving zombie hoards would kill them and take their shi after about 2 months

Not necessarily......many Amish are buying guns and ammo at all the gun shows I go to here in sw Wisconsin. They tend to stick together and wouldn't be walked over easily by any zombies.

Picture Venezuela ... America's infrastructure is more suited for the distribution of survival supplies. Indeed there would be emergencies that would arise, those dependent on medications or care. Big rigs are diesel and an EMP would be less detrimental to them.

We are not such a fragile people as one might think.

originally posted by: notsure1

We lost it about 3 am saturday and dint get it back until around 7 sunday evening. Stores sold out of generators in hours.

There are still over 40 ,000 people with no power and its in the teens outside and Kansas City Power and light is saying they could be out until late tomorrow.

Wimps. Last two times the Arctic Express roared through here we lost power for two weeks at a time. The telephone pole out front snapped in two on one of them. Wonder of wonders the world did not end. You'd better get a generator before they sell out. :-)

a reply to: notsure1

I apologize if I am being repetitive, didn't read past your OP, because it made me laugh.

I live in the woods in a rural area that is unincorporated. It takes over 45 minutes to get to any place outside the area. So any trip is basically 2 hours, round trip.

I lose power anytime we have a strong wind, and because we are so remote and small in numbers, we are considered low priority to be utility companies.

After hurricane Wilma I was without electricity for three months, and it was no big deal. Not for me and not for my neighbors. No TV and no internet, made for more social time, conversation, shared meals and shared labor.

I have been out here for almost twenty years. Those were the best three months I have experienced since being here.

Being without electricity for long periods of time should bring people together, not make them into thugs and thieves. The thugs and thieves already exist, that is why we need each other.

And by the way, there are far more good folks than bad. We just have to make sure we don't let fear incapacitate and destroy us. Necessity is the mother of invention and is a great motivator when things go bad.

a reply to: notsure1

I had no power for 7 days, back in 2000, when I lived in Wisconsin. It was awful. It wasn't everyone affected though. It just took them forever to repair all of the damage from a micro burst we had.


The if it were all over the U.S. there would be chaos, in a matter of a week or less . At least is large cities.

a reply to: notsure1


LOL charge your phone in your car,or better yet get on of those solar chargers about 25 bucks, already use mine once. or even better battery back up for your computer and monitor, least gives you a few more hours

originally posted by: putnam6
a reply to: notsure1


LOL charge your phone in your car,or better yet get on of those solar chargers about 25 bucks, already use mine once. or even better battery back up for your computer and monitor, least gives you a few more hours

Yeah we were charging them in the car but it takes so effing long . And with nothing else to do you just use it up real fast lol.

originally posted by: iplay1up2
a reply to: notsure1

I had no power for 7 days, back in 2000, when I lived in Wisconsin. It was awful. It wasn't everyone affected though. It just took them forever to repair all of the damage from a micro burst we had.


The if it were all over the U.S. there would be chaos, in a matter of a week or less . At least is large cities.

Chaos would ensue for sure.

Some people are like we lost it here for a while and we were fine.

Usually thats because its an isolated area and you know its coming back soon and you can go somewhere that has power and people from all over come in to help.

Like we have crews from Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska here working on the power but if were out everywhere then everyone is on their own.

There is no help coming and no power anywhere . Its definitely a different scenario then just losing it for a few days.

a reply to: conspiracytheoristIAM

The Amish are not pushovers. Some can be just as nasty and mean as those that are mean and nasty and not Amish.

originally posted by: notsure1
We we implode as a nation.

Friday we had a huge snow storm here in KC that dumped a foot of heavy wet snow everywhere.

Tree limbs down all over the city. and over 100,000 people lost power in the freezing cold.

We lost it about 3 am saturday and dint get it back until around 7 sunday evening. Stores sold out of generators in hours.

There are still over 40 ,000 people with no power and its in the teens outside and Kansas City Power and light is saying they could be out until late tomorrow.

And since we got ours back on it has flickered a few times so it could go back out again with trees still covered in snow and coming down everywhere.

No lights , no heat, no tv, no computer , and you cant charge your phone .

30 or so hours and I was ready to kill people lol

So imagine if we had a huge EMP or whatever knock out power to most of the country for an extended period of time.

We would implode. lol

I don't know if you remember, but KC was hit with a huge ice storm in January 2002. I watched capacitors explode on the lines like 4th of July. We lost power for 2 weeks after that storm! 400000 people were without (10x as much as this storm!).

All the fish in my tanks died except 1 little ghost shrimp and an amphibian.

originally posted by: dashen
If there was an emp id give it Two weeks till cannibalism.
Heck. Probably If they just cancel foodstamps nationwide

Given people in 2019, there'd be cannibalism if you canceled So You Think You Can Dance.

a reply to: whargoul

I do remember that storm.

The worst one was last year in July we lost power for about 3 days and it was 100 degrees everyday.

Do you live in KC?