EMP – Can This Happen?

Is the following scenario plausible?

A well financed proxy terrorist group has struck the United States.

They have successfully launched a modified Scud short range ballistic missile which was hidden inside a specifically and purposely designed shipping container positioned on top of ‘the stack’ aboard a freight ship. Many days ago it left from a foreign port and transitioned to a location just off the east coast of the United States – heading towards the Port Newark container terminal in New Jersey.

More of the story:

 
In a matter of minutes, the modified Scud missile reached it’s detonation ‘target’ 400 miles away, and more than 50 miles above the city of Cleveland, Ohio, where a nuclear warhead exploded in the atmosphere. The resulting electro-magnetic-pulse, or EMP, instantaneously fried nearly all electronic devices within line-of-sight, reaching out nearly 700 miles from the detonation, spreading into Canada to Boston down the east coast to Jacksonville, and over to Kansas City and Minneapolis. The nearly 1,400 mile diameter EMP blast zone covered the majority of the U.S. population as they were instantly plummeted into darkness while the electrical power grid failed and electronic circuits and components fried in a single instant. A cascading effect coupled out beyond the blast radius and blew out large custom made ultra (extra) high-voltage transformers (EHV) along much of the electric power grid network – sending all three of the major power grids of the entire United States into blackout.

 
While this fictional event did not actually happen today, it is a real vulnerability, and one that would absolutely devastate our way of life, whereby our very survival would be threatened.

In such a scenario, where would you be safe? Who would be the most likely to survive and get through the ensuing chaos?

There would potentially be so much damage to the electronic /electrical infrastructure that it might literally take a year or more to replace just the essentials such as the specially built custom power grid ultra high-voltage transformers – which currently have a production lead time of at least one year – more likely two to three years. (And that’s when the electricity is ‘on’) Even if these specialized transformers could be re-wound within months, would it be too late for our ‘way of life’? Could we last that long without self-destructing?

We could essentially be thrown back into the age before electricity and electronics – but during an age where EVERYONE depends on electricity and electronics. Most everyone would be on their own, with little to no help from their government. Some say that nearly every vehicle within the initial EMP blast radius zone might not start. Many theorize that nearly all computers and most all electronic devices will be ‘fried’. Transportation systems down. Water and sewage treatment systems down. Gas pumps down. Financial systems down. Distribution systems down. Grocery stores down. It would truly be a nightmare scenario where millions would surely lose their lives from the resultant follow-on effects in a world without electricity.

While no one will remain untouched, those who are living in population-dense regions will be in especially dire straits, while those away from cities and population centers might have a better chance if they have prepared in any way, or those who are already living somewhat self-sufficient.

After one week of such an event, I wouldn’t expect there to be much of anything available in ‘stores’, while the reality of the situation really sets in. Then what? Desperate times will lead to desperate measures, and that will include chaos and desperate violence.

Do you think that something this extreme will never happen? Is it too far-fetched?

Is an EMP ‘event’ such an outrageous possibility that it’s silly to contemplate?

Or are there those out there who would do this if and when they could?