What If America Went Dark?

There was a multi-state blackout in 2003 that lasted up to 4 days in some areas. It was pretty bad. The gas pumps, requiring electricity, didn’t work. People quickly ran out of gas and left their cars abandoned at the station, waiting for power to be restored.

I had about half a tank and remember just heading west, hoping I hit an area with power before I ran out of gas… thankfully I did.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_blackout_of_2003

I am surprised that nothing is mentioned about weather, as people have been moving to cities that are dependent on air conditioning.

It estimates that about 1% of the population [of Phoenix], or 13,250 people, would die, and half the city, or 816,570 people, would be put in emergency rooms if power was completely out for two days, then slowly restored throughout the region over the next three.

https://cronkitenews.azpbs.org/2023/06/05/study-phoenix-face...

Just a little bit of solar goes a long way to keep the lights on.

If America went dark I think parts of it would be OK. ERCOT and hurricanes have forced quite a bit of resilience throughout my region.

I know of multiple people in the TX hill country with thousands of gallons of buried propane on site and brand new generators waiting to be fired up for the very first time. If the weather is mild, most of these people could go two solid months before refueling.

I’d like to be optimistic and say we’d have about a week before things started getting Mad Max-y out here in the suburbs.

Currently on Day 4 of no power on the Big Island. Can confirm it sucks.

Non-paywall link: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/18/magazine/national-blackou...

Then it would zonk the Zark.