Five Hours Before

P-14

P-14

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I just finished “One Second After” and the main character kept wishing that he had done this or bought that before the EMP hit the USA in the story.

Here’s a SHTF scenario for your consideration:
  • The CIA has just learned that there is a container ship in the Atlantic and one in the Pacific with short-range nukes on board supplied by Iran and North Korea. They along with the US armed forces are mobilizing everything they have available because they don’t know which of the many container ships out there have the nukes.
  • The ships will be in range within 5 hours and will launch their missiles into the upper atmosphere above the US to create a massive EMP.
  • Your best friend, who works for the CIA in Langley, sends you a text that reads, “Duck and Cover – EMP – in 5 hours max.”
  • Assume that they succeed with their launch and generate an EMP that blankets the whole country about 5 hours after you received the text message.
  • Everything that runs on or generates electricity will not work after the EMP unless it was made before 1973 or does not contain any computer chips. This includes inverters, most generators, cars, radios, pump starters/controllers on well pumps, etc. Only electronic items in a Faraday Cage will survive.
  • Older vehicles (cars, motorcycles, ATVs, Mopeds, etc.) and chain saws, etc. will need a new condenser or they will not work.
  • There will be no public water, sewer for toilets, lights, or electricity.
  • You must survive a year without help outside your community. In New England, that means 4 full seasons.

>What would you do with those 5 hours?
>Where would you go (bug in or bug out)?
>What would you buy?
>Would you tell others? (The sky is falling!)
 
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First stop is the bank to pull out my $$$

Use credit cards to make remainder of my purchases for the next 5 hours.
 
Good idea, I could probably get my had on at least an additional 10k on cash advance alone...........;) The rest would be food, water, guns and ammo, clothes, and meds. Then run up to my kids camp up in East Bumfrack NH and get out the fishing poles.
 
Head to bass pro or cabelas depending on where I am and clear the shelves out, with credit card of course.

On a side note has anybody ever thought about the safes they own. My Winchester has only electronic lock, how would get into it in this case?
 
djmefitz said:
Head to bass pro or cabelas depending on where I am and clear the shelves out, with credit card of course.

On a side note has anybody ever thought about the safes they own. My Winchester has only electronic lock, how would get into it in this case?
Click to expand...

Why an electric saw of course.
 
djmefitz said:
Head to bass pro or cabelas depending on where I am and clear the shelves out, with credit card of course.

On a side note has anybody ever thought about the safes they own. My Winchester has only electronic lock, how would get into it in this case?
Click to expand...

No key backup? That doesn't sound like a good idea.
 
Well, the only issue is that while I'm not the most savvy guy, I've read enough that I'm not convinced that an EMP would kill everything electronic. There seems to be a fair amount of evidence that many systems would only be temporarily disabled, depending on intensity, proximity, etc, etc. I think the last time I brought this up in reference to a truck purchase, one of the NES elders referred me to a study indicating that most newer vehicles are pretty resistant to EMPs.

That said, all of the above, right? Call everyone you care about, go buy everything there is to buy, and wait for the people who love you to arrive with men in a white truck so you can be placed in protective custody just before TSHTF. ;p

ETA: I failed the conceptual test, didn't I?
 
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Call my wife to collect the kids and start doing laundry and any other cleaning stuff. I would let as many folks as I could in the group know. Note: need a phone tree. Stop at the bank. Hit the grocery for some more staples. Hit the feed store for more corn and chicken feed. Hit the small engine shop for a couple new chains. Get home. Fill the 2 extra water barrels. Grab the spare gas cans and go fill them up. Move the generator and all other vulnerable equipment into the basement. Get the kids into the bath and then take a shower.

That said, I feel EMP is a very overhyped danger. There is some risk to long lines like power and comms lines but there is no evidence of it permanently destroying things like cars and chainsaws. I believe that you could face a very long power outage and severe interuption of goods but your car will still work, your chainsaw will still start and your iPad will turn on.
 
Five hours is not enough time to bug out for me considering what needs to be done, so I would call those like-minded family and friends I can rely on to duplicate/split the following duties and meet at my house in 4.5 hours, or wish them luck if they want to be foolish enough to take it on alone.

1. Rent a huge moving van to transport and possibly store the overflow of everything below.
2. Hit the bank to close my account - cash is king for the next 5 hours after the credit card companies see the "suspicious" purchasing activities in step 3 - providing they don't agree with my call to them to them about the extra spending I will be doing as of today.
3. Max out the credit card(s) at BJs along with other stores in the area that have other basic needs (appropriate clothing, medical supplies, hardware store...maybe some mountain bikes - hey the cars won't work and we may need transportation somehow if the roads are safe).
4. hunker down with my clan and wait for the savages to take to the streets.


Other thoughts...

Buy lots of booze and smokes. they may become a high end bartering tool.
Buy lots of toilet paper - When the SHTF, money will become toilet paper, and toilet paper will become money.
 
Party like its 1933 and pray that if a nuke goes off that its right over my head when it does.
 
Build a Faraday cage ( I have plenty of screening) for my generator, them become the New Tom Edison selling amps to the neighbors.

The point about the CC Companies noticing a run on business is a good one - assuming that they're not on the top of of the "call me" list and clamp down pro-actively.

Seriously, you'll have no more than 2 hours or so, I'd say, before the news is out and the roads are completely jammed and such, as your buddy was not the only one to text, and news will spread faster than you can hit the "forward" button.

IN that time: Canned food....lots of it. Gasoline, as much as can be got. Mantles for the Colemans, extra propane, extra kero and candles. Water is not a problem, I have 13,000 gallons (pool) and usable-with some tratment water down the street.

PLenty of salt, to season the long pig barbecue.
 
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I would have to make a really tough decision. I have enough stuff stockpiled to keep us comfortable for several (5-6?) months, but long term we cannot be self sufficient. I don't think that 5 hours would give me enough time to get my suburban home on 0.9 acres into shape for becoming a sustainable homestead.

The rest of my family, parents and three siblings, live on a contiguous property in NY State, about 3 hours away. Ideally, I'd load all of my food, water, guns, ammo, camping gear, clothing, family pictures, etc... into my vehicle and trailer and head west ASAP. This would be very tight, as it would take me at least an hour or two to get everything packed and loaded, and if there is a lot of traffic (which there will be), we would get stuck halfway there. That would be much worse than just staying at home.

The best scenario would be for us to stay put initially for a period of months, but to have a way to make a 180 mile trip later on. That would most likely involve bicycles if our cars are disabled, or several long moonlit motorcycle trips to shuttle the kids back and forth to grandmas.
 
newenglandjeff said:
Given the CIA's track record, I would go about my business as normal.
Click to expand...
P-14 said:
  • Assume that they succeed with their launch and generate an EMP that blankets the whole country about 5 hours after you received the text message.
Click to expand...

For this thread's scenario, you would be sitting in the cold and dark for a long time.
 
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My turn:

I need to bug out. As ferfal says here (page 1 of the checklist), "A city that goes without light and gas for two weeks is a death trap." And, Chelsea would be just that.


  • I would call my friend Eric in NH (about an hour away) and let him know that I'm coming with guns, ammo, and food. We agreed if the world ended that I could come if I brought my gear.
  • I'd start with the 10-minute Evacuation Checklist here
  • Add my tools, stored fuel, and load the stocked food in bins and into the van.
  • Then, swing by Costco for a couple of 50# bags of rice, beef stew, more canned meats, noodles and buy a couple of bicycles.
  • Off to NH with the wifey to deal with the results of the EMP within 3 hours of the text.

Of course all the electronics that I brought along would be toast, but you have to try don't you?
 
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i like a lotta the answers so far;

cash
liquor store
strip club
liquor store
strip club
liquor store
strip club
liquor store
 
P-14 said:
For this thread's scenario, you would be sitting in the cold and dark for a long time.
Click to expand...

That's the point of this neo-Einstinian Thought Experiment. Would you have sufficient alternate lighting and heating strategies to see you through a period of time.

When Irene hit, one neighbor bugged out ( have a baby, and went to a relative's house where there was electricity). One's kid had to do homework by candle light, until I gave them a propane lantern.

Were we to have to go to a no-electricity existence now, my woodstove is going, I have candles and oil lamp and fuel in good supply, and propane and liquid fuel Colemans.

One of the best emergency candles I've encounterd is the 10-inch votive candles you can get on the cheap at Market Basket in the Spanish section....burn long, and cheap to buy. A good energency "unit" is one of these, with a book of matches, and a cover. Ready to go.
 
MisterHappy said:
That's the point of this neo-Einstinian Thought Experiment. Would you have sufficient alternate lighting and heating strategies to see you through a period of time.
Click to expand...

Exactly, Mr.H.

MisterHappy said:
One of the best emergency candles I've encounterd is the 10-inch votive candles you can get on the cheap at Market Basket in the Spanish section....burn long, and cheap to buy. A good energency "unit" is one of these, with a book of matches, and a cover. Ready to go.
Click to expand...

A good tip on the candles. But, why the dependence on matches? I use matches as a backup. Bic-type *flint* lighters are my primary source of fire. You get thousands of strikes and lights in a very small, light bundle that will light when wet.

[deleted comment about piezo disposable lighters - they are OK for EMP scenarios]

ETA: I wasn't sure about the disposable lighters working when wet, so I dunked one in water, shook it out, and tried the striker a few times with no luck. Then, I blew in the flint area a couple of times, spun the striker wheel and voila! It lit.

50-pack of disposable lighters for just under $13 w/ shipping here. Enough for you, the family, and friends for an EMP lifetime. [grin]
 
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1) Drive to the bank to withdraw cash
2) While driving, call select friends and family members, tell them what I've been told and invite them to meet at out place. Bring Food and Water "just in case"
3) After getting cash from bank, go to Sam's club and hit up their canned and dried foods, paper goods, water and high energy / small size (candy) food sections and all of the 25lbs filled propane tanks they have available, purchase on credit card. -- Purchase more 25lbs tanks on the way home if available.
4) Return home and put car in garage. Remove car battery shorting positive and negative battery cables together, Disconnect alternator and short cables together (minimizes likelihood of damage from EMP)
5) Empty small personal safe in bedroom, (double walled steel with concrete filled lining) and store LED flashlights and emergency radios.
6) Empty larger safe and store solar pannels and cordless drill inside. seal safe door with aluminum "duct" repair tape.
7) Disconnect all home electronics and appliances. Disconnect main power circuit breaker and short MAIN buss to ground wire to minimize likelihood of EMP damage.
8) Move 2'x4' quarter sheets of 3/4" plywood to first floor windows.
9) Wait and hope nothing happens.
 
P-14,

Piezo Electric lighters are not subject to EMP. They use a spring loaded mechanical plunger to forcibly deform quartz crystal to produce a very high voltage to initiate a spark.
 
1) Ask wife to organize all of our supplies
2) Call family and friends
3) Withdraw all money from savings
4) Stop by BJ's for food supplies and the gun store while maxing out credit card and spending most of the cash
5) Get home and connect all of the immediate necessary circuits to the generator
6) Board up the doors and windows
7) Watch the clock and hope everything is good
 
Square-Cube, it's the law.

Since you would know approximately when the EMP will hit, you can protect electronics by just sealing them up in a non-conductive container and ensuring they are entirely underwater during the event. So sink all your laptops and ham radios in a weighted plastic drum in your pool, and bob's your uncle.

As mentioned earlier, the threat of EMP to personal gear is overrated. Infrastructure relying on long runs of cable or antennas might be vulnerable outside the blast radius, but that's about it.
 

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