On April 28th, a widespread power outage disrupted daily life across Spain and Portugal, causing major shutdowns — including the temporary suspension of train and airport services. In Madrid, the normally bustling Atocha Station, seen here from above, came to a standstill as travelers were left waiting in darkened terminals and halted trains. In total, millions of people across both countries lost power, marking one of the most extensive outages in recent memory. (dailyoverview)

Our nation’s electrical grid is a lot like your favorite grandma. She’s always been there for you, whether you recognized her value or not. She has worked day and night to make your life better, providing warmth and hot meals.

But sadly, it’s time to face the bitter truth. Both grandma and the electrical grid are getting old. They are both made up of aging parts and systems. They are overworked, worn, and vulnerable to many different threats.

Now I can’t speak to your grandma’s health (which is excellent, I hope), but I can speak about the power grid. It’s unimaginably complex, and with that complexity comes vulnerability. It’s only a matter of time before a large chunk of “the grid” goes offline for days or weeks (or even longer).

As individuals, we can’t control whether the grid goes down locally from a severe storm or whether it goes down nationally from a cyberattack; but what we CAN control is our reaction to this threat and how we behave during the actual event.

Planning and preparedness are your best solutions to the threat of a major blackout, and the time to get dead-ass serious about your preparedness is right now.

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