Could Houston Survive North Korea’s Nuclear Onslaught? An Interactive Tool Can Tell You

HOUSTON, TX — The tough talk between President Donald Trump and North Korean President Kim Jong-Un has conjured memories of the Cold War, and raised concerns that mutually assured destruction could be on the collective horizon of the world.

On one hand, Trump has vowed to unleash “fire and fury” and we are "locked and loaded," if North Korea continues to provoke the U.S.

On the other hand, North Korea announces plans to lob their missiles toward the U.S. territory of Guam in the western Pacific.

No one really knows what Trump or Kim are thinking, and that might be the scariest part of this whole sordid geo-political mess.

And it really leaves us wondering: What if?

What if North Korea has a nuke or heaven forbid, lots of nukes? What if Kim Jong-Un decides to use them, instead of running his mouth?

What would it do to the U.S.? To Texas? To Houston?

You may be able to find out, simply by using this nifty online tool called NUKEMAP, which will let you simulate the nuclear catastrophe that would befall Houston, should a North Korean nuke make it all the way to the Bayou City.

The program, complete with interactive maps and various simulations that take into account the megatonnage of the bomb, was created by Alex Wellerstein, a historian of science at the Stevens Institute of Technology who studies the history of nuclear weapons.

We selected Houston for our simulation because it's the almost 3rd largest city in the U.S., and well, that's where most of us are.

The population is about 3.2 million in a concentrated area, and another 3 million around the city, so there's a lot of us.

Type in the name of the city, click the boxes to measure casualties, and radioactive fallout, and whether or not this is a ground detonation or airburst.

Then select the bomb.

A 10 kiloton nuke similar to the one tested by North Korea in 2013, would incinerate nearly 45,000 people in the initial blast, and result in 44,000 more injured.

Buildings such as everyting at the University of Houston Downtown would be flattened, along with Minute Maid park, the Toyota Center and BBVA Compass Stadium would be gone, along with everyone in a 10mile radius.

The radioactive fallout would poison Buffalo Bayou, and White Oak Bayou and with wind blowing to the northeast, radioactive fallout would flow along the Houston Ship Channel, into Humble, Atascocita...as far away as Liberty County.

This would be a small bomb compared to what the U.S. dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

A 20 kiloton bomb, similar to the bomb dropped on Nagasaki would kill or injure thousands more, obviously.

Regardless of the size of the bomb, the scenarios don’t really account for the spaghetti bowl of pipelines beneath Houston’s surface that carry natural gas and other hazardous materials.

The resulting explosions would be catastrophic on their own, even without a nuclear blast to help things along.

So where could you hide from any pending nuclear blast? Underground would be the best bet, and far away from the Houston metropolitan area.

Some families in the 1950s and 60s prepared for such a war and built fallout shelters in their backyards, which they fully stocked with provisions when the Cold War was pretty hot.

Of course, if you’re in Houston, and the blast and third degree burns don’t get you, the radiation fallout will.

But since this is all merely a great big "what if," just smile and take care to worry about what’s for dinner, instead of the unlikelihood of, well, nuclear war.

I believe cooler heads will prevail and all of this will blow over soon.

Really, it’s OK.

Images: Clemens Vaster via Flickr Commons

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