Off the grid! What grid?

"I am thinking these storms might have an impact on not only those whose homes were affected, but also the new, yet to be released tax reform bill. Timing is everything. And the timing for the tax bill could not have been worse."

This storm which hit Puerto Rico was something else. It had barely come down from a weak Cat 5 to a very strong Cat 4 storm. Puerto Rico, who had been spared many strong storms in the past (mostly, due to the water to the east not being as warm as it west of her) took one on the chin from Maria. Just like Irma did to St. Martins and St. Thomas, Maria pretty much wrecked the island of Puerto Rico.

The ferocity of this storm was such that it did something very unusual. Rather than knocking out the power to part of the island, it knocked out the entire island. Over 3 million people, in this sub-tropical climate, are now living without power. Here is the real oddity however. To restore power, a new power grid will have to be built and installed. Why? The old grid is "gone with the wind".

I know the number one priority will be to get the juice back on as quickly as possible for the island. I was thinking however, since the grid needs to be totally replaced, wouldn't it be nice to get some lemonade out of this lemon? Take this opportunity to replace it with a "smart" grid which is also robust. One which could handle a natural or unnatural EMP event?

One article I read said this storm threw the island back into the dark ages. Without electricity, not much works. On a larger scale, this could happen to America if we got hit with a solar flare, or if the "Rocket Man" ever get lucky and get explode an EMP bomb over our country. Then we also, would be back in the dark ages.

I do know this country is going to be on the hook for fixing what has been broken in Puerto Rico. Just like with the American Virgin Islands. It would be nice to replace what has been broken with something which is better. Not only better, but tougher. Ready to withstand the next punch from Mother Nature better. 

If the estimates are correct, and Puerto Rico will be without power from 4 to 6 months, living down there might be out of the question for many people. Not just because there is no air conditioning, there will no way to store food. I am thinking there is going to be an exodus of people coming to the mainland until the island is once again habitable.

I don't know how much this trio of storms (Harvey, Irma and Maria) is going to cost this country, but it might be as much as a half trillion dollars with all is said and done. I am also thinking these storms might have an impact on not only those whose homes were affected, but also the new, yet to be released tax reform bill. Timing is everything. And the timing for the tax bill could not have been worse.