Monthly Archives: August 2014

EMP, blackouts, and traffic jams

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Someone I know recently asked me about EMP-proofing a vehicle, and the first question I had was “where are you planning on going after an EMP event, exactly?”  I always assumed that vehicles were going to be worthless in any sort of crisis, but it made me think in more detail about why.

Let’s assume, for argument’s sake, that just the power grid in a region goes down during the day (no other EMP effects).   What is the reaction to that? Well,  we know all traffic signals will be off, and the existing traffic will be forced to follow the 4-stop rule. People don’t seem to comprehend this (when’s the last time you saw a 4 way stop?), so most if not all intersections will become bottlenecked or gridlocked.  And that’s just the people already on the road. If it’s between 7 AM and 7 PM, those at work will get in their cars and leave, causing total mayhem on the surface streets and feeders. Major highways will not be able to offload the traffic due to blocked side streets, and ramps will back up. Interstates in rural areas will probably continue to flow, until the first vehicles run out of gas and start blocking lanes. If traffic is stopped for long periods, anywhere, some will run out of gas and will block the lanes, causing more delays and potentially a locked up road.  Remember, we are talking about ALL power being off in a wide area, with no easy way to pump or transport fuel.  Things may take a very long time to sort out, if they do at all.  I believe a person in a city has a very short time to take action and get on a major roadway before being caught in a jam, anywhere from a few minutes to 15 or so at most. On the freeway, things will take longer to slow down but figure on a 10-15 minute window to reach the outer parts of the city then a few hours to reach the next major metro area or a roadblock.

On the other hand, if it occurs late at night/early AM, things are a bit better and you may not have an immediate jam up although travel will probably be slow due to the lack of signals. But, if this was a deliberate act it’s unlikely to occur at night (maximize the damage).

We can also assume the authorities will ban non-emergency travel in the immediate aftermath, to preserve any hope of keeping military and police transportation operating.  You can count on the police and FEMA being in total full bore crisis mode, and they will likely initiate a curfew as well as some sort of local roadblocks to keep people contained.  So your travel is soon going to be limited no matter how you slice it.

As a side note, all this assumes no vehicles are being affected by EMP, and it was just a power blackout. If even single digit percentages are disabled, they will probably immediately block all the roads even if if not many people are out and about. People generally don’t skillfully head for the shoulder when the engine dies, on the remaining inertia. They coast to a halt right there, seen it many, many times.

Hence, my discounting any value in having a vehicle after the fact. It may be useful long after the crisis has passed, but to run post-EMP errands, no.  Travel will need to be by foot or bike, and my plan is to take the railroad tracks home if I’m at work.  Nice clear path, no panicky jackasses harassing me.  I can make it in home in about an hour and a half, I should be fine but things will get real interesting after that.   I really don’t think the EMP thing has a high probability of occurring, but it’s educational to think about what would happen if it did.  Sure hope I’m not on far away vacation, because getting home is going to be damn near impossible.

 

Gardening and self-sufficiency in a crisis, looking back

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The reason for my garden was to see how growing my own stuff would actually work, versus just tossing some seeds in a can and hoping it would suffice later. Overall, things have worked out very well and I’ve learned A LOT about what grows best and how to keep everything alive. I need to record the yields of everything vs the square footage required in order to get an idea of how much seed, soil, and area is needed per person to survive. I also wanted to see which crops were the most efficient in terms of nutrition vs space vs work required.  

My conclusions so far:

  • Sunflowers are fab. They grow with minimal care, and yield plenty of seeds per plant. They grow in planters as well as outside, albeit 1/2 the height. You can get oil and seed, so they are a must-have IMO. Easy to plant, save some seeds and you are good to go next season. 
  • Berries are also fab. These plants are very fast growing, and will (over time) extend as far as you want with little care. They provide fruit, vs trees which take years to produce. I’m pleased with the results, I have gotten quite a few berries just from the small starter canes. They propagate like weeds and can be scaled up as needed.
  • Kale and Orach. Good yields, not picky about the weather. Can’t really say that about lettuce and spinach, the latter has been a waste of time.
  • Onions, peppers, and carrots. Same, great yields and not too hard to grow.
  • Wheat.  Sensitive to season, soil, water, and nitrogen. Working on a second summer crop that was planted with more space between plants and in potting soil. The spring crop was stunted and was accidentally mowed, so I didn’t get a yield although it would have been poor. This is a work in progress, I think it will end up being the most labor intensive thing I planted given the steps needed to go from seed to flour. 

I’m looking forward to next spring, I plan on planting corn, more wheat, potatoes, and some other settler-type stuff like turnips. I didn’t have time or space to do the starch crops this year.  I can now see how one could be self-sufficient, there’s all the vitamins and calories in what I listed. It will all store, I will try the root cellar and see how that goes.