According to a Cal Berkeley physicist, we missed getting blasted back into the Stone Age by a grid-destorying coronal mass ejection in 2013 in this article. Actually, the plural is used in the Reuters article, so I guess we dodged a number of bullets. Similar in magnitude to the 1859 Carrington event, for those familiar with the history of CME's.

I don't know what to say to that. I mean, we almost lost basically ALL electronics and electrical power? I don't know how close (and I mean "close" in the astronomical scale) we came to being hit by a powerful CME, but it's still chilling.

Oh well, maybe next time.
-Blast, who needs to go caveman on some people

A CME of the scale of Carrington event would probably take down large parts of various electrical Grids throughout the world. Many of the Transformers on those Grids will fail and a proportion of them will catch fire and burn.

Having electronic RCDs protection will help with home fires etc. A Black Start might be required across the Electrical Grid and if many of the larger unprotected HVT transformers may well have been damaged where they may take many months to repair (not replace) if those transformers are unprotected in geomagnetic susceptible geographic regions.

Small portable battery powered electronics should be perfectly OK and won't be damaged if not connected to mains at the time. Small sensitive electronics can be protected using Surge Protection Distribution Boards/Uninterruptable Power Supplies UPS's would help considerably if connected to the mains electricity espcially if using RCD protected mains. As with vehicle electronics, they should be fine as well.

Panic would ensue after about 2 weeks without electrical power and much of the country in the US and UK would probably descend into Katrina disaster like chaos, but with no one coming to the rescue and a high probability of Martial law within the first week of the country going dark in the flickering light of the burning cities.

i don't follow the survival aspect of CME's all that much but i do read the science blogs.i get the impression we would know one is on the way.what could we do in those hours to protect our self.
like unplug the TV on a big scale?

It's a good idea to throw the breakers and unplug everything, but keep in mind that it may be *years* before you have electricity from the mains.

The thing I worry about are the nuclear power plants. You can them subcritical pretty quick, but a working reactor is full of radioisotopes than decay at their own pace and give off heat that must be removed lest everything melt. Normally grid power is used in a shutdown to power the cooling pumps with diesel generators as a backup, but if a CME nails the grid *and* the generators then you have a problem.

Truthfully, there is very little to be done in the amount of time we'd have, that would effectively protect us.

I usually get 1-2 days notice, by keeping a watch on certain Internet forums and thru apps ( eg: NASA SPACE WEATHER). The only things I can think of are to disconnect electric or electronics from the power source and from antennas. A 10" or longer antenna will catch enough power to burn out circuits.

The only proven method of protection is to secure one 's equipment in a Farraday Cage.

Ever since Fukushima, I think we've all had a nasty firsthand wake-up call to potentially the worst after-effect of a CME event--potentially hundreds of nuclear reactors melting down at the same time.

Even if they are able to scram a reactor in time, unless the grid is able to resume providing power afterwards, or the grid is able to function enough to keep refineries going and new fuel deliveries flowing for the pumps/generators for weeks or months or possibly years, it's another Fukushima.

I wouldn't want to be in a nuclear-dense country like France or Japan if that happens.

Not that I'm paranoid or anything, but an ammo can should make a good faraday cage for smaller electronics. I picked up a couple largish ammo cans that were designed for optics, foam padded on the inside. When not in use I keep my Goal Zero solar charging kit and some new Sanyo Eneloop batteries in one and a few radios and other electronic devices in the other.

Disconnecting from long antennas is a very good recommendation. In this case an antenna is any piece of metal than can capture and feed current to the electronics. A power cord is an antenna..

Big question is how well automobiles will do if we get hit. Radio antenna is an antenna and cars these days all have computers...

The after effects of such an event remind me of the book "Ride The Wilderness" by Michael Juge. An OK book, notable for only costing $1.99 in electronic form for Kindle and Nook. I just read this one not too long ago.