EMP Prep, What would you do if you had 45 minutes to prepare?

[90cummins]

If you knew North Korea launched a nuke and had 45 minutes to prepare for an EMP attack what would you do??
If I was home I would isolate my home from the grid as much as possible by moving all breakers including the main breaker to the off position.
I would unplug everything from the outlets and disconnect any antennas and remove all cables from my TV's and computers and any other electronics to hopefully minimize damage from the power surges that will be induced in the EMP blast.
House wiring and extension cords act as antennas that will induce and direct high voltages & currents into your electrical items.
That's all I can think anyone could do with little warning.

What would you do??

90cummins

 

[ovrszd]

North Korea should be wayyyyyy down your list of concerns. Try to not watch so much National News. If this Country is overtaken it will be without a shot fired. We'll implode from within.

If a Nuclear device ever successfully lands on this Continent I hope I see it coming and catch it. You don't wanna be at the fringes of the kill zone.......

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

Nothing.

You will not be informed of the launch in time to worry about anything. The gov't has no intention of "informing" the citizenry that a nuke (or nukes) is/are inbound. There is no point. Most folks couldn't do more than stain their drawers in the amount of time you'll have, and maybe a few will get out on the highways and clog up the traffic lanes a bit more. If you live close enough to one of the ICBM launch facilities, you will see the launch of the counterstrike, or you may hear a bunch of planes take off if you live near a military air base.

And you have 15 minutes, not 45.

A successful emp attack will be a high altitude attack, just inside the atmosphere, not a surface impact attack. Emp energy is "line of sight" energy. If the blast happens over your horizon, you will get little to no energy from the blast. If it happens very far away from you, the actual atmosphere itself acts as a resistance to the emp wave, so the farther away from the center you are, the less intense the energy pulse will be. If it happens above you, all your electronics will be toast, whether you unplug them from the wall or not. Military electronics are emp "hardened", civilian electronics are not.

 

[JimRB]

You assume there will be commerial/residential electricity after an EMP? Unless you have thousands of gallons of fuel stored for a generator, you will run out of fuel years before they restore the grid. Saving devices that run on electricity would be the least of your worries. I doubt bringing broadcast radio and TV would be a high priority. If you have a year of food stored, a way to get safe water for a year, then you might be ok if the neighbors don't raid your site. I am just thinking on the sunny side of an EMP attack.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I wouldn't do anything. Not much use protecting your stuff if the national grid is shut down. No one could save enough fuel to run gen sets till the grid comes back on and electronic stuff we would mostly never be able to use anyway since the broadcaster would be out of business also.
There is lots to be said about having an old car without electronics so at least we could move long distances to perhaps find some place not affected.

 

[oldballs]

In the Army, we were asked......."if an A-bomb was going to fall in 5 hours, how deep would you dig your foxhole?".

The answer was "5 hours deep". .... but A-bombs are outdated now I guess.

 

[ovrszd]

I don't think any of us can comprehend this. Preparation might extend your comfort a bit. But within a couple days your neighbor that doesn't have what you have will attack you and take yours. The next day the people from town/city will show up and finish you off. So your best defense is a good offense. You will be the attacker or the attacked. It's up to you.

 

[ovrszd]

In the Army, we were asked......."if an A-bomb was going to fall in 5 hours, how deep would you dig your foxhole?".

The answer was "5 hours deep". .... but A-bombs are outdated now I guess.

Mike, I've spent hundreds of hours in NBC (Nuclear, Biological, Chemical) training. Chances of long term survival were never discussed. All that training was "quick reaction" training. Everyone understood that long term survival was not on the table. During Desert Storm we went into our NBC gear every time Iraq launched a SCUD missile. An inconvenience to say the least. A delayer to say the most.

 

[rekees4300]

What would you do??

Bend over and kiss my azz goodbye. No electricity = no food = no USA.

 

[90cummins]

I’m not obsessing about NK and I’m aware we probably wouldn’t have any warning I asked a what if question.
When Y2K was approaching I prepared by purchasing a small 4kw generator just in case.
I was determined not to freeze to death because of some software glitch.
If you have solar panels they should survive the event at a reduced capacity, if you have a spare charge controller and inverter you would have power for any electrical items that survived.
Let’s change the scenario. There is a Carrington type solar event approaching and you have 12 hours or a day to prepare what would you do?
I feel that if you can do some level of preparation to protect your home/family and don’t shame on you.
I’m not the kiss my a— goodbye type.
90cummins