Extreme Cold Era: Shelter Don't Keep Waste-Chapter 772 - 2: Snow and Wind Fluttering

The area covered by the blizzard almost affected the entire Northern Territory, and even the New Continent colonies and autonomous regions were significantly impacted.

In such harsh weather, all outdoor activities naturally came to a halt.

No one would dare to stay outdoors amidst temperatures tens of degrees below zero and a hurricane-force wind of level twelve.

In such extreme weather, stepping outside would almost be a death sentence.

The strong wind and low temperatures would rapidly take away body heat, causing hypothermia in a very short time, lowering bodily functions, dulling thoughts, quickly leading to getting lost in the harsh weather, and ultimately freezing to death in the blizzard, sometimes leaving no trace of the body.

Even the Steam Knights wouldn't dare to guarantee their survival outdoors in such extremely harsh weather.

After all, although they are protected by steel which can ward off the cold, low temperatures could still cause operational issues in the Steam Knights, freezing the outer shell.

Perfikot did address these issues in the original design of the Steam Knight armor, incorporating a specially designed insulation layer between the outer shell and the inner layer to withstand the severe cold.

The output of the Steam Knights can ensure that even if the shell is iced over, as long as they aren't standing still for too long and completely frozen, it wouldn't pose much of a problem for them.

However, even Perfikot only designed the Steam Knights to theoretically operate in harsh environments down to minus seventy degrees, not to combat such extreme blizzards.

This has led the entire Northern Territory to retreat underground now, with transportation and various production activities completely halted.

"What is the disaster situation in each area? Has a report been compiled?" In the underground office of the Chernobyl lord's mansion, Perfikot asks the officer reporting to her.

Even though Perfikot is currently honored as the Regent of the Empire, theoretically she should be residing in Beloburg.

But for various personal habits, after completing the first phase of the Flying Warship plan's layout and construction, she returned to Chernobyl.

As her meticulously operated stronghold, only here can Perfikot better control the entire Northern Territory.

Thanks to Perfikot's telegraph network laid out in advance, she can still receive timely information and updates about the situation in the entire Northern Territory during this disaster.

"The preliminary report has already been compiled. The economic losses in each area are quite severe, with about twenty people dead in this blizzard, over seventy missing, and more than three hundred injured." The officer hands Perfikot a detailed report.

Taking the report, Perfikot's hands couldn't help but tremble, and seeing the final statistics made her deeply pained.

Those are her people, her domain, suffering such huge losses. Even with a heart of stone, she would still feel heartache.

However, amid the heartache, Perfikot is also pondering how to break this deadlock.

Waiting until the storm subsides to send aid is clearly not enough. Although it might be safer relatively, it would cause remote, smaller settlements without much resilience to lose hope.

They inherently lack the capability to withstand disasters and have already taken massive losses in this unexpected blizzard.

If we wait for the blizzard to end before aiding them, they could fall into hopelessness due to shortages of food and fuel.

It's a scenario no one wishes to see.

"What's the status of material reserves in the settlements? Are there any settlements that need immediate aid?" Perfikot, although having confidence in her carefully crafted Northern Territory, understands some issues are unavoidable.

"Several relatively remote settlements have indicated they need material support. Their reserves aren't adequate to support the current state for long, and the local coal mines are crucial for maintaining operations in the northern settlements. We need to resume operations in this area swiftly." The officer reports to Perfikot while providing a list.

Perfikot remembers each Northern Territory settlement clearly and can quickly pinpoint them on a map.

So when the officer speaks, she roughly confirms that these settlements needing resources are likely in the northwestern area closer to the Arctic Circle.

This region is inherently remote, transportation is relatively difficult, except for an extended railway line, and regular resupply usually relies on routine airship patrols.

With airships available, resupply is relatively stable, and local settlements manage to be self-sufficient in various ways.

The primary resources produced by these settlements are fuel, with mined coal being transported by a designated train approximately every week, serving as one of the vital industrial lifelines of the Northern Territory now.

However, because the coal mines are rather scattered, these settlements are dispersed along the entire mine, not forming large settlements.

With a population mainly consisting of miners, these settlements don't have other production capacities and rely heavily on external food supplies, making it hard to stockpile grain independently.

This leads the settlements to swiftly face food shortages when hit by a blizzard, relying solely on crafting alchemical compressed biscuits to stave off starvation.