Are you prepared for a super storm of historic magnitude to hit the United States? If the answer is “no” or “maybe” you had best work on your prepping plan ASAP. Weather experts at MIT and a host of severe storm tracking agencies from around the country are warning that the nation is “long overdue” for a disastrous monster storm.
A disastrous storm of epic proportions would have immediate and severe effects on those who live in or around the heart of the impacted area. The domino effect which would occur in the days and weeks after such a massive monster storm could be felt on a far broader scale. If a monster storm hit the Gulf Coast, the fuel supply would be interrupted and cause gas prices to soar once again.
A mega storm would likely take down a significant portion of the power grid and leave those even 100 miles away in the dark. When Superstorm Sandy rocked the New Jersey coast in 2012, millions of largely unprepared people were without power for weeks. According to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) statistics, there have been 645 hurricanes between the months of September and November since 1851. In comparison, only 321 hurricanes formed from June through August during the same time period.
Weather-related events were the primary cause of power outages from 2007 to 2012, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers infrastructure report card. Power grid reliability issues are emerging as the greatest threat to the electrical system. The ASCE grade card also notes that retiring and rotating in new energy sources is a complex process.
MIT meteorology professor Kerry Emanuel said the Gulf and East Coast has been “kind of lucky.” Emanuel and his fellow weather experts are also warning that cities around the coastal regions are “ripe for disaster,” because many buildings have never been tested by 110 mile-per-hour winds. Winds of such velocity reportedly occurred during both Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Andrew.
The power grid has morphed in size tenfold during the past 50 years. While solar flares, cyber attacks, and an EMP weapons are perhaps the most extensive and frightening threats to the electrical system, the fragile infrastructure could just as easily fail in large portions, due to weather-related events. The power grid is basically a ticking time bomb which will spawn civil unrest, lack of food, clean water, and a multitude of fires if it does go down.
Storms of various types are the leading causes of power outages in America. Severe weather has caused more than 675 blackouts between 2003 and 2012, costing the United States approximately $18 billion to $33 billion per year, according to a report by the President’s Council of Economic Advisers and the United States Department of Energy’s Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability.
A “monster storm” could strike any day, top meteorologists are predicting. Massive hurricanes have historically hit the East and Gulf Coasts every 20 to 40 years — it has now been at least 70 years since such a deadly and powerful storm has hit either coast, MIT weather experts say.
“In the Tampa region, an Andrew-sized storm could cause more than $200 billion in damage, according to a local government study in 2010. It’s ripe for disaster. Everyone’s forgotten what it’s like. It’s just the laws of statistics. Luck will run out. It’s just a question of when.”
FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate is reportedly preparing for the worst and is concerned that others are not:
“[Inexperienced people] generally underestimate how bad it will be and made decisions about staying when they should be evacuating. You have to accept the fact that every time a major storm threatens it’s a new experience for 99 percent of the people involved. People don’t always understand the threat.”
The Tampa area is of particular concern for many weather experts. The National Hurricane Center, which reportedly calculates storms a bit differently than the MIT experts, says a major hurricane should hit approximately every 30 years. The National Hurricane Center believes that it has been “decades” since a massive storm has hit America.
“It’s a real big concern,” National Hurricane Center Science Operations Officer In Miami, Christopher Landsea, said. “My worry is that we’ll have hundreds or even thousands dead when the next major hurricane hits the Tampa Bay area. Hurricanes don’t give a darn what happened the last year or the last 10 years. We could certainly have a major hurricane hit Tampa-St. Pete in 2015, but it doesn’t matter for this particular season that it hasn’t had a hurricane since 1921.”
The last time a disastrous storm hit Houston was in 1941. It has reportedly been 160 years since the Norfolk, Virginia, area has been hit with a monster hurricane.
“I would be seriously worried about Houston, just because it’s a huge petrochemical center with very large potential for a blended natural-technological event,” Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado Director Kathleen Tierney, said.
If a disastrous storm took down a regional power grid, commerce would come to a screeching halt and impact those both in the path of the storm and Americans who rely upon the food, medications, and supplies manufactured in the area.
Civil unrest would likely occur in as little as three days in major metropolitan areas. Tractor-trailers would not be able to deliver food to grocery stores if gas station pumps no longer worked. Panicked super-storm refugees could possibly overwhelm the FEMA and Red Cross shelters established for their care. FEMA does not have a gold-star track record when responding to natural disasters. Relying on the federal agency, or any government entity to provide for your family in the aftermath of a monster storm could prove to be a deadly mistake.
Are you prepared to survive such a super storm and life after a failed power grid?