February 24, 2025  | Makenzie Kellar

Districts are often prepared for common, high-frequency threats – like slips, trips, and falls or hail damage to property – simply because they know that the likelihood of encountering one of them is high. However, there are lesser-known issues that—while not as likely as an employee slipping—could result in devastating consequences and halt the functioning of a district entirely.

While normally it’s not a great idea to harp on worst-case scenarios (unless the goal is creating anxiety, then go for it!), this article will discuss two such events with different origins but similar effects: solar storms and EMP attacks. And, to prove that catastrophizing doesn’t have to be a needless endeavor, we’ll discuss a few ways that you can prepare for and mitigate the effects of even the most damaging events.

Solar Storms

Similarly to how the Earth has seasons that it experiences every year, the Sun has something called a “solar cycle” that restarts every 11 years or so. Over the course of a solar cycle, the magnetic field of the Sun flips, meaning that the north and south pole of the sun switch places.

The beginning of a solar cycle is called a solar minimum. During this time, solar activity is uncommon. However, as the cycle progresses, solar activity will become more and more frequent up until the solar maximum—which occurs in the middle of the cycle, or about five years into it.

Solar storms occur during solar maximums when the sun expels energy in the form of solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs). This energy is capable of reaching Earth and can create auroras in the sky when it interacts with Earth’s atmosphere.

While most solar storms aren’t strong enough to cause trouble on Earth, a rare few are capable of true damage. The most famous example of this is the Carrington Event of 1859, where the energy expelled by a solar storm not only made its way to Earth but was powerful enough that workers at the American Telegraph Company reported that they were able to unplug their machines and still send telegraphs using the lingering current of energy in the air. If that wasn’t enough, it also caused telegraph machines to spark and set fire to papers kept nearby, throwing the communications system of the time into complete disarray.

Luckily for us, solar storms occur in predictable cycles. Unfortunately, NASA announced the beginning of the latest solar cycle in 2020, meaning that solar activity is expected to hit its peak this year, in 2025.

EMP Attacks

The only good thing about an EMP attack—if the U.S. is ever hit by one—is we’ll have far bigger problems on our hands than the resulting power outage.

The effects of electromagnetic pulses (EMPs) were first discovered by accident in the 1950s. While conducting nuclear tests in the United States, scientists noticed that electronic equipment close enough to the site would fail. However, because we’re discussing the scale of nuclear weaponry, “too close” could mean hundreds of miles away. Take for instance a case in 1962 where high altitude nuclear tests performed on the Johnson Atoll caused streetlights to fail and car alarms to go off in Hawaii, over 800 miles away.

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) notes that the threat of an EMP attack is worth paying attention to “because they may permanently damage or disable large sections of the national electric grid and other critical infrastructure control systems.”

Unfortunately, it’s all too easy to imagine how disabling all computers, phones, radios, TVs, and the electrical grid at large would throw a district into disarray.

How to Prepare

While it may seem pointless to try and prepare your organization for such massive threats, there are actually a number of easy and common sense measures you can put in place sure your district is ready for whatever may come, regardless of the frequency or severity of the risk.

First, start by having an emergency preparedness plan at the ready for employees and district guests. If there is any important information that you need to access stored on electronic devices, print them out (especially documents like contact sheets). Make sure to have backup generators and solar or hand-crank chargers at the ready to power any necessary devices that typically rely on electricity.

If there are pieces of critical infrastructure that your district cannot afford to have shut down, a 2019 report released by CISA provides detailed guidelines for how federal, state, and local officials can protect their equipment against EMPs (although this advice is applicable to most issues that would pose a threat to district electronics and telecommunications). For equipment where longer outages are acceptable, this report recommends unplugging power, data, and antenna lines and turn off any devices that cannot be unplugged. Use lightning rated surge protectors on power lines and AM/FM/NOAA radios to receive Emergency Alerts. For infrastructure that cannot be down for long, the report suggests investing in EMP shielding equipment. The entire report is free to peruse online and contains a plethora of advice that even districts with a tight budget can benefit from.

For EMP attacks, your local news will likely be your best hope of getting a warning in advance. Solar storms, being more predictable, are tracked by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). NOAA allows people to sign up for notifications about this sort of thing, but (if there was ever expected to be solar storm as large as the one that set off the Carrington Event) you’ll likely hear about it from your local news as well.

In the event of a solar storm or EMP attack, be mindful of what electronics are offline and do not attempt to operate machinery that may be compromised like elevators.[KM8]  Do what you can to quickly establish lines of communication with local officials for further guidance.

Next Steps

With luck, a damaging solar storm or EMP attack is not something any of us will experience in our lifetimes. However, just because an event isn’t likely to occur, that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth the time and effort to prepare for it.

Furthermore, as hopefully this article has demonstrated, even the worst-case scenario is something that you can prepare for. No matter how daunting a threat to your district may seem, there will always be research, resources, and help when you need it most.

For more information on how to prepare your district for whatever challenges lie ahead, reach out to the CSD Pool at safety@csdpool.org for a free consultation either over the phone, email, or in person. Consultations are free can be used to help your district develop procedures and best practices for risks of any kind.