<body><div><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=2hkuEX_1GrK5KlN00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=2hkuEX_1GrK5KlN00" width="1200" height="600" >AUGUSTA, Ga. - Shopping carts loaded with bottled water, dehydrated meals and batteries are rolling out of big-box and specialty stores across parts of the Southeast.What’s fueling this? Viral “doomsday” posts about a supposed 90‑day nationwide imposed blackout.It’s happening even though experts say the rumor is based on a misunderstanding of a military readiness plan, not any plan to cut power to Americans.<h2>Fears fuel gun sales in South Carolina</h2>At a tactical supply shop in Laurens County, the aisles don’t look the way they used to.Where there were once neat rows of gear and ammunition, there are now gaps and empty hooks. “People are going crazy. They think the world is going to end in one day,” said John “JC” Castillo, who owns Stock Pile Tactical. “We had a full rack of everything here and it’s been selling out, same for pistols.”Castillo estimates his sales are up roughly 60% to 70%. He says customers aren’t just buying one type of item – they’re buying like they’re preparing for a long emergency. “They’re getting water, they’re getting ammo, they’re getting guns ready, and they’re just, they don’t know what’s going to happen,” he said.Anecdotally, that same sense of urgency is showing up in other places too. Employees at warehouse stores in the Augusta area tell us they’re seeing more people loading carts with “survival”-style products: dehydrated and long-shelf-life foods, cases of water, backup fuel and batteries. <h2>A military plan misunderstood</h2>On Sept. 30, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth unveiled part of a long-term strategic plan known as FORTRESS America. It’s a blueprint meant to prepare the U.S. military for modern threats, especially cyberattacks and sabotage.The basic idea is straightforward: if something major hits the civilian grid or critical infrastructure, the military still needs to be able to operate. Under FORTRESS America, each military department and defense agency is expected to build the ability to function on its own for at least 90 days.In statements and interviews, experts have stressed that this is an internal readiness plan – a way of hardening bases, shoring up supply lines and ensuring the armed forces can “fight and win under any circumstances,” including in the middle of a cyber crisis. It is not, they say, an announcement that the U.S. government is planning to shut off power to civilians for three months.“We know that more nations are engaging in cyber attacks,” said Sean Evans, chair and professor of political science at Union University. “We’re concerned about sabotage, so the whole idea is that if something happens that our military will be prepared. They’ll have a 90-day supply of energy. They’ll have backup ammunition.”FORTRESS America is organized around five broad goals – energy independence, supply-chain resilience, a strategic defense reserve, hardened installations and cyber systems, and resilience in space and spectrum – all of them focused on the military’s ability to function if the wider system is under strain.<h2>How TikTok turned ’90 days’ into doomsday</h2>For many people, their first encounter with the term “90 days” wasn’t in a defense briefing or a news story. It was on TikTok.Stock Pile Tactical shopper Kayla Fairchild says she was scrolling when she started seeing video after video with the same ominous message.“It was just videos of ‘the blackouts coming, the blackouts coming,’” she recalled. “And I’m like, what, what is this?”The clips she saw, like many circulating now, were short and urgent: text splashed over footage of darkened city skylines, creators warning viewers to “stock up now before it’s too late.” Fairchild admits those posts got into her head.“I’m nervous, but also, like, I don’t want to not be prepared, but I don’t want to overdo it,” she said.Still, she’s been stocking up on water, food and other basics because, as she put it, “I don’t want to not be prepared.”That tension – between reasonable preparation and creeping panic – runs through much of what store owners and shoppers describe. People tell them they don’t necessarily believe every wild claim they see online, but they worry about being the only ones caught off guard.<h2>Empty shelves, full carts</h2>Castillo walks past sections of his store that have been picked over.“It’s leaving their shelves here mostly empty,” reporter Ashley Listrom observed during a visit for FOX Carolina. Castillo says the sudden wave of concern about a blackout has pushed people to stock up. Some South Carolina stores said they see a familiar bump in business during election seasons or as weather turns colder. What’s different this time, they say, is how many customers are specifically citing a 90-day blackout.Through all of this, one fact has remained consistent in statements from the Pentagon and from outside analysts: FORTRESS America does not announce or authorize a national blackout.But nuance is hard to fit into a 20‑second video. And once the story mutates into a simple, frightening headline – “90-DAY BLACKOUT COMING” – it can be hard to correct.<h2>Walking the line between ready and afraid</h2>Even as he benefits from increased sales, Castillo sounds conflicted.“I don’t know if it’s gonna happen, hopefully it doesn’t, but get prepared,” he said.Other store owners in South Carolina say something similar: that it’s always smart to have basic supplies at home.The question now is whether people are going far beyond that because of a misunderstanding.Buying a few extra cans of food and an extra case of water can be a calm, practical decision. Buying out shelves because an anonymous video warned of a looming national blackout can strain supply, fuel more anxiety and leave others without what they need right now.Shoppers like Fairchild are trying to find their own balance in the middle of that.“I don’t want to not be prepared,” she said again. “But I don’t want to overdo it.”</div></body>

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AUGUSTA, Ga. - Shopping carts loaded with bottled water, dehydrated meals and batteries are rolling out of big-box and specialty stores across parts of the Southeast. What’s fueling this? Viral “doomsday” posts about a supposed 90‑day nationwide imposed blackout. It’s happening even though experts say the...

‘People are going crazy’: Inside the 90-day blackout panic

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AUGUSTA, Ga. - Shopping carts loaded with bottled water, dehydrated meals and batteries are rolling out of big-box and specialty stores across parts of the

‘People are going crazy’: Inside the 90-day blackout panic

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