>Some [telegraph] operators, in an attempt to spare their networks from further damage, disconnected their batteries from the lines, only to find that they coul

>Some [telegraph] operators, in an attempt to spare their networks from further damage, disconnected their batteries from the lines, only to find that they could still send messages using only the current provided by the storm. That's one of my favorite versions of "if life hands you lemons, make lemonade" stories. Knowing what we know now about CME's, I wonder if it has ever been surmised that one option that might spare some expensive parts of the electric grid is a massive grid-wide disconnection prior to the CME arrival. This wouldn't save everything, but I think it would save a lot of blown megatransformers were they to be removed from transmission lines, reducing induced currents through them.