Its worse. The original event caused fires to start in all electrical stations, mostly for the national telegraph system There were sparks travelling along the lines for a long time and most telegraph offices burnt down. Ramp this up to today where nearly everything is electrical and what would we get? The phone in your pocket would arc, as would your fridge, your car and your robot sex toy. There would probably be an immediate global firestorm which could be so bad that the atmosphere would catch fire. Just thought I would mention it.