Am I right in thinking with advanced warning this could be mitigated by simply shutting down the power grids for a few hours? That would be a big deal, but clearly not as bad as taking it out.
They can have some pretty powerful arcs too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5YxdRfAe14
He had some great stories about contingency plans that go into how they would restart the grid post 9.0 quake in SF or LA. Such a quake is largely expected to bring down most, if not all, of California's grid.