Zombies crash Centers for Disease Control and Preparedness website — sort of

Zombies — and a federal plan to deal with them — drew so much attention this week that they crashed the CDC's website.

The "Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse" "guide" posted on the site by the Centers for Disease Control and Preparedness provides information that will not only help readers survive a "zombie apocalypse," but also, and not insignificantly, such disasters as tornadoes and floods. It's a good thing, too. The heightened interest comes just as the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) laments $107 million cuts in federal public health preparedness funding.

That federal money is passed down to local communities for activities such as training in businesses, schools and senior centers in how to handle disaster.

"These cuts undermine communities nationwide and the local health departments that serve them," said NACCHO's executive director, Robert M. Pestronk in a written statement. "Without sustained preparedness funding, continued progress is unreliable and the risk of being caught off guard increases."

The group said that local health departments are battling increasingly smaller budgets. Its most recent survey of members found that in 2009-10, 40 percent of local health departments cut or reduced programs or services. Among those cut back were emergency preparedness efforts and preventive health services.

With diminished funding for services and training, it may require anti-zombie plans and preparations for intergalactic attacks to get the word out that there are steps communities and individuals can take in the face of disasters, whether they're real, like ongoing floods; manmade, like terrorist attacks; or more speculative, like zombies.

The zombie preparedness guide was originally published Monday on the CDC Public Health Matters blog, written by Ali S. Khan.

The traffic was so heavy that the site crashed. Then the cached version crashed, too, according to The Daily Beast.

"The rise of zombies in pop culture has given credence to the idea that a zombie apocalypse could happen. In such a scenario, zombies would take over entire countries, roaming city streets eating anything living that got in their way," Khan wrote. "The proliferation has led many people to wonder, 'How do I prepare for a zombie apocalypse?'"

The advice, she noted, is broadly applicable to real life, as well.