Sweeps

The phenomenon known as "The Sweeps" was the 48 hour bombardment of the Earth as a stream of meteors crossed our planet's orbital path. As the Earth rotated, the incoming objects rained down on the planet's surface.

At first, the meteors were believed to be natural in origin, probably a long-period meteor shower, like a comet that only swings through our solar system once every few hundred years. When the meteors punched through the Earth's atmosphere and caused unprecedented devastation all across the globe, this theory was called into question. Based on studies of the meteors' average size and mass, those that entered the atmosphere ought to have burned up and not even reached the ground. Also, the objects moved significantly faster than what would be expected. Much of the kinetic energy (and ensuing damage) came from the objects' stupendous velocity rather than their sheer mass.

The inbound objects also tended to strike vital components of infrastructure more often than could be explained through coincidence, leading many to believe the meteors were actually guided somehow. At any rate, enough major roads and facilities were knocked out that regular operations of government and business were immediately crippled. Emergency response systems were instantly overwhelmed as they were designed to react to limited or even systemic disasters in a relatively small area, not massive disruptions everywhere simultaneously. The aftermath of the sweeps has led to severe isolation between communities, which in turn has led to social upheaval from looting, rampant crime, resource hoarding and the like.