This is one of favorite topics, the title refers loosely to the Mongol hordes that swept across eastern Europe, it’s used by some preppers to denote the supposed reaction of the US populace to calamities described earlier.  The theory is a collapse of the infrastructure will led to cities emptying out and a road system clogged with refugees and marauders, sweeping all before them (which is why you need a personal arsenal). As usual let’s look at this in detail:

• Water. No water treament, no clean drinking water, no way to carry more than a few gallons. A day with no water you are suffering, 2-3 you are done.
• Food. Same deal, try humping canned goods.
• Shelter. Ever try sleeping in the open, on the ground?
• Clothing. How far can the average person get on foot with no parka, socks, or hiking boots?
• Weather. Try hiking in the rain, snow, cold, night, or blazing sun.
• Disease and contagion. Accompanies refugees everywhere.

Things are not looking too good so far. Add hostile refugees, authorities, townspeople.  I noticed in Katrina and the Northridge earthquake people tended to stay put, I didn’t see a tendency to just hit the road.   Let’s assume that some make it out of Metropolis, they will not be in good shape and probably not capable of sustained suburban combat.  I’m not subscribing to the hordes idea, the odds are too high. You probably have more to fear from neighbors and people within foraging range than urban wankers. I will address this last point in a future post, as it’s fairly important.

The decision to stay put or flee is commonly refered to as “Bugging out/in”, and  is another popular topic for preppers.Most prefer the latter but the former has its adherents. Which is nuts, IMO, for the reasons I listed. There could be a scenario that required evacuation, but I am hard pressed to imagine what that might be. We’ll cover this later.