Cholera

We have learned nothing since Katrina. Our decrepit water and gas systems have been around for sixty to eighty years. Our roads, bridges and tunnels and levees are in a state of abject disrepair. We have not taken the crucial step of constructing emergency facilities in our cities and towns. Besides putting many people to work, building these facilities would provide some semblance of civility during a time of crisis. People would be able to take refuge and have access to medical clinics and food banks. The current response network that relies on the Red Cross, FEMA and the National Guard during times of crisis is dangerously inadequate.
Now imagine that something could dwarf all of this; something that could kill tens of millions of Americans and cause at least half of America to experience life as if they were living in a Mad Max film. Imagine that a gigantic mass of plasma is released from the sun and heads directly for the Earth. Even though we have been assured that we can withstand such an event, the power of this coronal mass ejection overwhelms our electric grids and fries our power substations rendering them beyond repair. Our communications satellites are also severely damaged during the solar event and are unable to function. We are not told what has happened. When we pick up our phones, there is no dial tone. When we turn on the radio, we hear nothing. We head out to the street to ask our neighbors what has happened but nobody seems to know. The first inconvenience we notice is that our air conditioning is not working during the stifling heat of a warm summer day. Or worse still, our heat has been cut off as temperatures dip below thirty degrees.