When I read the book in 1995, Orlando was hit, but with conventional weapons and near the end of The Day; this is what causes the loss of electricity. A Missile range somewhere in the peninsulanote I'm thinking that this was Patrick AFB near Melbourne, though it could have been Avon Park near Sebring was given as the main purpose of the Air Force recon mission at the end of the story.
Even given that it was on the far side of Orlando, if McCoy AFB got nuked, then Mount Dora would be near the Southeast border of the local Clean Zone, not near its center.
Even without that, there would still be quite a bit of expanse to the northwest until you hit Gainesville, which would be the worst-case for the extent of the fallout from Tallahassee, and if that fallout got that far, then the fallout from MacDill would likely have crossed the peninsula, limiting the amount of expanse to the South from Mt. Dora.
When I read the book in 1995, Orlando was hit, but with conventional weapons and near the end of The Day; this is what causes the loss of electricity. A Missile range somewhere in the peninsulanote was given as the main purpose of the Air Force recon mission at the end of the story.
Even given that it was on the far side of Orlando, if McCoy AFB got nuked, then Mount Dora would be near the Southeast border of the local Clean Zone, not near its center.
Even without that, there would still be quite a bit of expanse to the northwest until you hit Gainesville, which would be the worst-case for the extent of the fallout from Tallahassee, and if that fallout got that far, then the fallout from MacDill would likely have crossed the peninsula, limiting the amount of expanse to the South from Mt. Dora.