Hypothetical nuclear attack

Here is the scenario: In a surprise first strike, Northern Montana, Boise Idaho, Los Angeles, Washington DC, and Plano, Tx have been hit by medium yield nuclear missiles that made it through our defenses. Also, at least 40 satellite launched low yield EMP devices have detonated in the upper atmosphere, taking down huge portions of the electrical grid and many electronic devices that had no shielding.
Weather patterns will cause fallout from the 5 strikes to travel due east 65 miles per day over the next three days.
Here is all you know: At 10 am on a Tuesday the power goes off (we will assume you are not in or close to one of the blasts). There is no news broadcasts since their elevated antennas absorbed the EMP and fried the transmitters. Your cell phone powers up but has no signal. Your car runs and your home computer will turn on but has no internet.
Now let's play: Where are you, in what state, (not your address, where are you physically, at work, home, commuting, etc.). What are your first reactions to the power failure and inability to get information? What do you think will be happening around you by day 3, and what do you think will be happening around you at day 30?

Annnnnnd GO!

 

A Ballon made it through our defences and whos to say they wouldn't let the bombs fall where they may?

 

IF - Biden is actually still part of the nuke use authorization - don't see the US standing much of a chance >>>

if Russia hit the major cities on the coastlines with a barrage of cruise missiles - maybe some strategic domestic sabotage >>> put out a surrender ultimatum - Biden would make a surrender deal taking care of the VIPs & Pols and sell out everyone else into slavery .....

 

I guess I would worry if the next diesel or food shipment would arrive from the L-48.

Alaska is at the end of a very long, two track dirt path in terms of logistics.

30 days in? I would hope to be past the Hawaiian Islands on my way to Fatu Hiva.

 

I live in a temperate rain forest in the PNW region of the US. Anytime power goes out, we hope but do not necessarily expect that it will come back on.

While we have some propane stored, we're not going to waste it on heating, or pumping water from the well. Water will be hauled from the creek a couple hundred yards away. Cooking will be over a wood fire with cast iron Dutch ovens and skillets.

Weather permitting, we get the gardening ramped up. We don't expect any assistance from any government agencies.

 

It should go without saying that water for human consumption will be purified.

 

I am home in North Idaho. I am not going anywhere because it is winter and serious cold.

First, I would issue a big THANK YOU to whoever struck Boise Idaho and ridding us of all those Leftist, pinko, commies.

Second, since power is out (happens during the winter so not a big deal), I probably wouldn't even know the internet was down; however, the phones are a different story as I would have immediately put a portable battery pack onto our mobile phone signal booster to ensure we got phones but when that didn't work, I would start to get suspicious.

(Since you never said either way about radio communications, I will pose both scenarios)
I would probably then try to contact others on my VHF/UHF radio as I can reach a good 35 miles away in all directions. Depending on if I could contact others via radio gives me a much better idea of the problem. Even though the power is out, most of my radio group has constant battery backup so they would be operational. I hope that after finding out their phones and power are also dead, I would finally come to the conclusion that this is much bigger than a simple power outage. I would then probably attempt HF radio, but giving an EMP strike I doubt it would work due to atmospheric interference. I think VHF/UHF would work given it is more line-of-sight. I might try to power up the internet and when it also doesn't work - well - that's another big clue. I think I would try AM radio at that point...hopefully, our useless government would find a way to broadcast what had happened with the Emergency Broadcast system.

The KEY here is to determine exactly what happen which would lead to my correct/incorrect response. I admit that I doubt I would have made the great leap to an EMP and nuclear strike - yet - as there is simply not enough information to make that determination, especially if the Emergency Broadcast doesn't work. Luckily, the winds are due East in your scenario we'd probably be safe from the fallout of Boise, however, in truth, our strongest winds come from the Southeast so we'd probably be dead before we knew what was killing us.

Your scenario is disturbing as I believe I see your intent.... In a real situation we'd have very little information, if we were lucky enough to be alive, and we would have to act quickly in order to survive and to do so we first must get pass that the impossible had happened. That's a hard pill to swallow. Very interesting and disconcerting indeed...

If we did get notice via the AM radio or by other means, I would probably head under the house as we have a very large crawl space, 5+ feet, with all the food and water and etc., tape up vents, pile up dirt and remain there until...who knows, either dead or we hear an all clear, not much else we can do about fallout. I suppose I should get an NBC mask and filters but...I've always felt it would simply be prolonging the inevitable.

 

as long as they don't nuke the Yellowstone volcano back to life it'll be ok.
I'm indifferent if they cause the san andreas to go on a tear.

 

It largely depends on where I'm at when it happens.
Right now, I'm at Starbucks, about 30 miles from camp/home, if the car is dead, it's going to be a long walk home, and it's particularly cold and raining.
Normally the road is dangerous, and during an event such as this people are even more nuts.
Providing I get home safely, first on the agenda is to ensure the well is still functioning. The lady that owns the property does not have gas reserves, so fuel for the generator for the well will have to be scavenged and guarded jealously.
I can't see any practicality in traveling, only in securing the property, from raiders and scavengers.
I have plenty of food and water and first aid supplies and weaponry.
My guess is most every one I know out there are not well prepared. Most are minimalistic.

 

I am far enough south of any of the bombed cities that fallout would not be an issue. With no comms or power, work would be shut down. Load up my tool boxes and go home...it's a 10 mile drive. Upon arriving home, first check the solar system. If it's working, great. If not, replace the components that were fried. Next is to set out the remote heads for the CDV-715...along with grabbing the dosimeters and making sure they are zeroed. Then make sure the fridge and freezers weren't damaged...hopefully the whole-house surge suppressor did it's job effectively. Set the cameras to audibly alarm on motion. Hook up the ham radio antennas and see what, if anything is on the air. Might as well hook up the tv antenna and see if anything is coming out of Biloxi MS, Mobile AL or Pensacola FL. Houston is a bit of a reach (gotta remember I don't know what/where) but can usually pick up a station or two. Head over to the NWS office (they're just up the road) and see if they have any info. Wife should be home before half of this is done...she works closer to home than I do. If nothing else, she should have her radio on (yes, we're both licensed) Oops, almost forgot...we recently put up a GMRS repeater...might be able to get some info there, too. Too bad we haven't got the solar set up to keep the backup battery charged there, but it is good for several hours with the battery. Touch base with the neighbors, make sure they are ok. At least the temps are only in the mid 60s at night and around 80 during the day. Lots to do initially to gather enough data to put a solid plan together.
Three days - thirty days in, who knows? I suspect there will be some issues with trash from New Orleans migrating this way...but there are not that many bridges between there and here, and only two roads to this location.

 

If Washington, DC and LA are gone things can't be all bad! As long as the car works, and I have even a gallon of gas in the tank (DON'T EVER LET IT GET THAT LOW!) I can get home. Once I get home and ascertain that this isn't just a power outage (FYI a prepper HAS to be able to tell when the Shit has really and truly Hit The Fan), and then survival mode kicks in! I secure my home place and preps, try to get some information (WARNING! DO NOT OPEN YOUR FARADAY CAGE IF YOU SUSPECT AN EMP ATTACK HAS TAKEN PLACE!) and check on my family. I'll stick close to home for a day or two and then I might have to go shopping before the stores are looted. Then retreat to my home, fort up, make some popcorn and watch as the world go ape shit crazy!

 

@Tempstar Can we discuss a point that @Wildbilly brought up which I believe is at the heart of this exercise? I ask because I certainly do not wish to highjack your thread, but I believe this falls well within the scope of your scenario; nevertheless, shut me down if I've gone outside what you're trying to achieve.

"a prepper HAS to be able to tell when the Shit has really and truly Hit The Fan"

This is indeed the heart of the matter: what has happened and to what extent is the damage? For example, A train derailment versus a train derailment carrying loads of toxic chemicals in the center of a town.

With most crises, it would be easy to ascertain the type and extent of the crisis. For example, is it local, regional, or national or even, God forbid, international. We have public communications systems (internet, landline and mobile phone systems, amateur radios, televised news media via satellite or local broadcast stations and AM/FM commercial radio) so within minutes you can get a fairly reasonable idea of the seriousness of the situation and what has occurred. However, an EMP and/or nuclear event is different in the regard as it removes many if not all of available communications, at best communication would be seriously degraded.

I ask this question to see if I have missed something or perhaps there is something I can do procedurally to better figure out what has happened. In this scenario, Boise Idaho is a bit over 450 miles away from my location and it has been destroyed by a nuke. Communications has been seriously degraded via EMP strikes and it's in the dead of winter, so power outages are a common occurrence. The only clue I truly have, as far as I can tell, is the phones also are out and since I have a very strong technical background, I know all those mobile phone sites have auto-start generator backup so they should not be affected by a normal power outage. One site down would be strange and maybe worth investigation, but many sites down would definitely send an alarm bell and red flares.

So, what am I missing? What other clues would tell us that something unthinkable like an EMP/nuclear strike had occurred?
Comments? Suggestions?

EDIT: I write this not because I think we are in danger of an EMP/nuclear strike against us. I think mutual destruction deters this effectively but more as an exercise to ensure I have not overlooked something in my preparations.

 

Check the diodes in your solar panels and get spares in the event the EMP take them out.
Most every thing solid state is going to be vulnerable.

 

Good point! I should be looking at any electronics on property/home that strangely stopped working...and if 2-3 items have failed - well - that's too many to be a coincidence, especially given no power, no phones and no internet. I might be tempted to think it could be a power spike and indeed it could have been, but it also could mean the worse.

 

The idea here is to brainstorm this amongst ourselves and figure out if it can be figured out. Bandit99 is going down the right path. The idea here is that things have happened and we don't know why, unless we are are close to a strike or 200 miles East of one in 3 days. I bring this up because I was thinking the other day about how almost all radio programming is now computer controlled for most of the day and without internet or phones even the newscasters wouldn't have a clue even if they managed to stay on the air.

 

Remember that an EMP will melt power lines and set some appliances and buildings on fire! Also, other signs will be the lack of any AM/FM radio signals, and the lack of navigation lights on cell phone towers. However, you might want to ease into full on survival mode...there is no need to start shooting the neighbors on day one...unless they really need shooting!
PS I really need to get some radiation detection equipment, it would be a shame to have everything necessary to survive, only to die from radioactive fallout!

 

Under those circumstances even though I live outside the nuclear devastation zone and wind patterns will blow the fallout away from me, my life expectancy will not be beyond six months. Once the meds dry up and I have to resort to carbs it will only be a matter of time before I develop a terminal infection.

Knowing that, my goal is to provide knowledge, organization, and all other means to sustain health and security to family, friends, and neighbors. An EMP is unlikely to damage vehicles, so until the gas is gone there will be transportation to help expedite preps.

My first step will be making contact and developing defense and comms plans. Then covering water, sanitation, and first aid. It's not time to plant, but to make plans and make sure there is seed, fertilizer and tools. I will have also broken out the IDEN phones stored in an old microwave and solar chargers and distributed to nearby family and very close friends as well as to the neighborhood watch. Then I will hunker down and witness the Tribulation as the world collapses. Don't think for one second that our mandatory response won't result in the destruction of the modern era.

 

15 miles from Ft. Hood back gate and dead center between DFW and Austin. No matter what purpose the nuke that gets used at 76 years I'm pretty much toast anyway so just going to kick back with a shot of Beam, A smoke, the Hawken and defend my home for as long as I can. In the quiet moments I'll pray the kids and grands make it through and I'll hope my Creator deems me worthy to enter His kingdom.