After a Nuclear event

[bumpus]

So lets say we take a nuke strike in the PNW. I am guessing that Portland and Seattle and the military ops in Bremerton Fed Way and The big radar/radio set up up that way are history. Salem may take a hit, and Kfalls with Langley field there. Medford may take a smallish hit at the airport.

There will be areas that remain semi in tact in the region, but fallout will be an after issue that will contaminate lots of stuff. In this event, will only stored water be drinkable, or will tap water still be ok? Provided we still have any running through the pipes.

If not, could you take water from a pond or stream and filter it through a filter system and use it, or would it be blasting out radiation? I've got food and preps and a pool out back that I could filter through a fancy gravity filter if it would still be useable. but if not, I need to bolster my stored water supply. Please advise.

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[Croat]

Ain't that was your a$$ is for? To kiss it goodbye?

 

[jayR]

American Civil Defense Association

Nuclear War Survival Skills

 

[Camelfilter]

Moot.

If the water is contaminated with fallout particles (which you could filter out), everything else is contaminated with fallout particles as well.

So you effectively would be drinking clean filtered water & still be getting dosed. Badly.

Now, maybe if you had a true fallout shelter...but most do not.

Plus a Geiger counter & skills/knowledge to use one effectively. Even less do not.

Survivable? Sure. By chance.

 

[Alexx1401]

If we get hit we will not need to worry about how we are going to survive. We will all be dead.

 

[Camelfilter]

If we get hit we will not need to worry about how we are going to survive. We will all be dead.

As in all things, it depends.

"War Games" (movie) total global thermonuclear war? Yup. Bye bye.

Limited, yet severe global thermonuclear war? Yup. Majority bye bye, most of immediate survivors bye bye over the follow on time frame.

Severely limited nuclear war, with most of the global population initially surviving? Depends upon many many things who survives & thrives post such an exchange. Particularly if infrastructure remains, or doesn't remain. Locally, regionally, nationally, globally.

One should consider what would happen locally, long term, lacking any outside inputs. Zero. As a survivable worst case of ANY "scenario" (collapse, war, disease, zombies, insectoid space aliens...). Doesn't mean anyone/any family in particular would survive. Just that they could. Perhaps.

 

[Quirt Evans]

No need to physically destroy everything.
When an EMP takes down the entire grid and all the lights go off, and the water pumps don't work, and there's no ATMs and the toilets don't flush people going to be in a world of hurt.

 

[Indy62]

The great debate..

Fact is..no one really knows. It's all theory. Nuclear winter theory = everyone dies.

Non nuclear winter theory = massive localized blast/fire/pressure damage up to 20-60 miles depending on yield. Fallout over wide area depending on wind. Most will survive the initial exchange. But it depends on how you define "survive". Many will be mostly intact initially, If they prepared..food, water, shelter, location etc..

Most will be shocked to the point of inaction. Followed by the best..and worst..examples of human behavior.

I guess the question for everyone to ask themselves is. If I do survive the initial nuclear exchanges, do I want to survive the aftermath..and all that goes with it?

The will to survive is the strongest instinct we have. I know where I stand.

In answer to the OP. As soon as the bombs start, fill up your bathtub. You should already have plenty of bottled water stored. Get some life straws. But bear in mind that no filtering or boiling of water will do any good whatsoever if it's already irradiated.

 

[Old Dog]

So lets say we take a nuke strike in the PNW.

Please, let's not say this... some of us reside equidistant between the world's large nuclear submarine base, the Bremerton Naval Shipyard (always at least one carrier in port) and the biggest joint AF/Army base (JBLM) on the West Coast. Plus, Seattle, hub of the U.S. tech industry, Naval Station Everett, Jim Creek Naval Radio Station (VLF comms to our subs) ... it's not as though the Puget Sound region isn't the major W. Coast target...

No ferries. No airports. No Narrows or Hood Canal bridges. Highways destroyed. No fresh water. No way in or out for those of us on the West Sound.

If I -- and my family are here if this event occurred, we are within the blast zone, so there's really nothing to do. In the unlikely event we survive the initial blast, the region will be wholly uninhabitable, so the remaining options would be hunker down and die a very painful, slow death or...

The best we could hope for would be EMP strikes. A country boy can survive...

With any luck, Kim Jong Un, the Ayatollah, Ji Xinping or Vlad will launch when we're all back on the family land in Upper Michigan for whitetail season...

 

[Xaevian]

Nuclear war is really bad for the climate. Greta will not let it happen!

 

[Alexx1401]

As in all things, it depends.

"War Games" (movie) total global thermonuclear war? Yup. Bye bye.

Limited, yet severe global thermonuclear war? Yup. Majority bye bye, most of immediate survivors bye bye over the follow on time frame.

Severely limited nuclear war, with most of the global population initially surviving? Depends upon many many things who survives & thrives post such an exchange. Particularly if infrastructure remains, or doesn't remain. Locally, regionally, nationally, globally.

One should consider what would happen locally, long term, lacking any outside inputs. Zero. As a survivable worst case of ANY "scenario" (collapse, war, disease, zombies, insectoid space aliens...). Doesn't mean anyone/any family in particular would survive. Just that they could. Perhaps.

This is just like when I was in school and we used to do the get under our desk drill. Even then I used to think it was a joke. Those of us who live in the PNW are NOT going to survive a hit on places like the shipyard or sub base. For those who want to play fantasy games? Hell why not. If they hit the PNW those who live on the other side of the state? Great, they can try to get moving and get away from the fall out. Those south of us like OR? Be the same thing. Matter of could you move fast enough to get ahead of the fall out. NO ONE living here is going to be wandering around looking to live if they hit us. Most really have never really looked into what the bombs of today do. They are not dropping little boy and fatman any more. Those bombs were nothing compared to what they have now. Those we used on Japan were VERY rudimentary as we were just learning how to make this stuff work.

 

[Cavedweller]

Water itself (pure H2O) does not become radioactive. It can be contaminated by radioactive particles, such as fallout or contaminated soil.

That said, old fallout maps from the '60s based on presumed Soviet targeting information (which you can still find on line) and weather data, show that the SW quarter of Oregon would be fallout free. This is due to the lack of targets in the region and to the west, and prevailing winds. So Medford would be spared under those assumptions.

How valid are those maps today? Are the threats the same and do the same targeting data still apply? That's debatable. China and N. Korea may concentrate more on the W. Coast. I don't know.

Loss of the power grid would definitely be a factor. The dams on the Columbia would probably be gone, and so most of our generating capacity. But if the assumptions behind the old maps are still valid, your natural water sources in SW Oregon should be OK. In any case, I can't think of any reason why well water wouldn't be OK, if you can get it out of the ground.

 

[CountryGent]

In case it is of interest:

Nuclear War Survival Books

Nuclear War Survival Books The subject of surviving a nuclear war has been around for a long time now. Some preparedness types believe the scenario to be of primary concern, others discount the possibility, and others fall somewhere in between. If nothing else, preparing for a nuclear exchange...

www.northwestfirearms.com

 

[Indy62]

If anyone's feeling curious, or macabre, check out the damage for yourself. Drag the pin to your location, select a yield (1000 kt is most likely)..and click detonate.

https://nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/

Here's a 1 megaton (1000 kt) over Salem. We differ on this Alexx. People will survive. How long is a dice throw.

 

[wired]

Per FM 3-3-1 The terrain around Seattle will direct most of the blast upwards. Fallout will drop out in the cascades . Eastern WA will be relatively unaffected. Portland really isn't much of a military target. More of a 2nd or 3rd tier target if nuking the military targets first doesnt have the desired effects. EMP is WAY over rated and more of a local short term effect. Bremerton and Bangor especially will be glass. What we used to call Fort Lewis and McCord will be secondary targets with McCord closer to primary.

 

[Jay Walk]

Ain't that was your a$$ is for? To kiss it goodbye?

We won't have time, today's nukes are 100 times stronger than what we used in the 1940's
Pray one never gets touched off.

 

[Richo877]

All we need to do is push harder for population growth and deregulate the food supply so we can increase pumping preservatives into people so when the nukes do fall, there's a higher number of survivors, by "chance"...
We've been working on this for decades and testing radiation tolerances with all sorts of wireless networks.

 

[TTSX]

I think whether or not the tap water is contaminated will be too low on my immediate problems list to register.

 

[Stomper]

Ain't that was your a$$ is for? To kiss it goodbye?

 

[bumpus]

so it sounds like, if we filter our water with a good system... like a berkey gravity filter set up, the irradiated particulate will mostly be caught up in the filtration matrix. and the water would still be water and potable. Beats dying of dehydration or radiation poisoning