Concern grows over possibility of a massive power surge [View all]

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http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-power-surge-20140202,0,2740850.story

Concern grows over possibility of a massive power surge
Whether caused by solar flares or terrorists, a major electromagnetic pulse could fry the electric grid and cause massive disruption, an increasing number of observers say.
By Evan Halper February 1, 2014

At a recent conference in Washington, William Murtagh of the federal Space Weather Prediction Center described the dangers of a massive solar storm that is, as the Lloyd's report on the issue says, "almost inevitable."

Such storms take place roughly every 150 years. The last one was 155 years ago.

During the "Carrington event" of 1859, named after the English astronomer who observed it, a huge solar storm ejected a mass of particles and electromagnetic energy intense enough to induce a surge that knocked out the switching system of the New York Central Railroad below 125th Street and caused the control tower to catch fire. News reports told of telegraph wires going berserk.

But electricity was hardly the backbone of society in pre-Civil War America. Scientists fear such an occurrence now could cause chaos.