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D.C.-area institutions — including hospitals, courts and transit services — modified operations Friday due to a global technology outage.
The three major D.C. area airports saw delays and cancellations Friday morning, with some disruptions continuing into the afternoon and even spilling into Friday.
Buses and trains are back on schedule after the region’s largest transit agency experienced delays early Friday morning with some of its services — including its website — as it dealt with the impact of the communications outage.
Here’s what happened in the wake of the the outage, which was caused by a faulty software update issued by a cybersecurity firm and affected customers running Microsoft Windows.
Cancellations and delays soared at local airports
Long lines formed at airports in the U.S., Europe and Asia as airlines lost access to check-in and booking services at a time when many travelers are heading away on summer vacations. D.C.’s local airports were not spared from the computer system outage.
Reagan National Airport and Dulles International Airport both posted on social media that “multiple airlines are reporting system outages that are impacting flight operations” and that passengers should check the status of their flights before heading to the airports.
On Saturday, WTOP’s Jimmy Alexander reported from Dulles, where delays and cancellations raged on as a result of the outage.
“My seatmate was flying to conduct his father’s funeral, and you can imagine what the time delay has done to their schedule,” said 82-year-old Sandy, who was trying to get home to Orlando after a vacation in Africa.
WTOP‘s Matt Kaufax caught up with several people Friday who were experiencing delays and cancellations at Reagan. He said the mood ranged from cautious optimism to total exhaustion.
According to FlightAware, a flight tracking website, Reagan had about 80 delays and 40 cancellations by 8 a.m. It’s still facing delays of around 40 minutes. Dulles, similarly at 8 a.m., had about 30 cancellations and 90 delays that were lasting an average of 31 minutes, with wait times increasing.
BWI Marshall Airport also reported almost 90 delays and over 10 cancellations in the morning.
8:12am The crowd continues to grow. Southwest Airlines is not impacted by this outage here at the BWI Airport. Airport staff is now starting to bring out water and cookies for travelers who have been camped out here since last night. @wjz pic.twitter.com/y6sMRAqbiv
— Alexus Davila (@AlexusVDavila) July 19, 2024
Local hospital systems are open
A spokesperson for Inova Health systems told WTOP that all sites are “open and serving patients.” However, she added that the outage “affected” some of Inova Health’s technology systems.
“As patient safety is our top priority, we quickly implemented standard downtime procedures to limit the impact to patient care while we work to restore standard operations,” she said.
Melony Griffith, the president and CEO of the Maryland Hospital Association, told WTOP that “Maryland’s hospitals are open and operational.”
However, she said some canceled elective procedures.
“People should hear from their local hospitals if there has been a change in a scheduled elective procedure,” Griffith said.
She added that patients can also check the hospital website for updates; however, she asked that people refrain from “(overwhelming) our hospitals with calls regarding elective procedures.” Instead, patients should expect their hospital to call them.
Disruptions to Maryland hospitals caused by the global outage include access to electronic health records, transcription services and budgeting and care coordination systems, Griffith said.
“When technology doesn’t work, we go back to what has previously worked,” she said. “We use paper and pencil phone calls and couriers to get the job done.”
D.C. resident Loretta Sims told WTOP that she had an eye appointment scheduled at Washington Hospital Center for Friday morning. When she arrived, she said hospital staff told her their systems were down.
“They said if I wanted to wait two or three hours, I could, but I wasn’t going to wait that long,” Sims said, adding that the hospital was “crowded.”
Government services disrupted
Virginia’s DMV offices are closed Friday due to the outage. Maryland’s Motor Vehicle Association offices remain open, as do D.C.’s DMV locations; however, there are some significant service disruptions.
At the Rhode Island Service Center in Northeast, residents lined up outside of the facility, which had a delayed opening Friday. Some said they’d been waiting there for longer than three hours.
Every 30 minutes, a DMV staff member came out to update the crowd.
“Luckily, someone came out pretty quickly and explained what was going on,” said Caroline Kemp, a resident who was waiting in line for services. “I hadn’t even looked at the news yet to hear about the global outage.”
According to a social media post from D.C. DMV, self-service kiosks at the Fort Stanton and Takoma Rec Centers are working, but the agency is troubleshooting at the Inspection Station on Half Street.
The department encourages residents to utilize online services when possible.
In Prince George’s County, Maryland, the Department of Permitting, Inspections, and Enforcement’s Momentum permitting system was offline, according to a news release from the county.
Kronos, a workforce management system, went offline. This outage is “impacting operational efficiencies across various county departments,” the county said in the release. The Office of Internet Technology is working on the issue.
Meanwhile, the county’s The Department of Public Works and Transportation is running transit services TheBus, Call-A-Bus and PGC Link on schedule. Fare machines, vehicles and associated equipment should be functioning normally, but riders might experience minor delays, according to the news release.
Maryland’s court system announced Friday morning that all of the state’s courts, offices and facilities will be closed to the public all day due to the outage. They will remain open for “emergency matters,” the system said.
Metro is back on schedule, website back up as well
In an updated post on X at 9:30 a.m. Friday, WMATA said its WMATA.com and trip planning applications were back online. Earlier, it noted all its Metrorail stations opened on time and service will be running as scheduled. The agency added that bus service is operating as scheduled and only five routes are experiencing delays unrelated to the outage.
WTOP’s John Domen reported from Metro stations this morning that some fare machines and arrival boards were down, but trains are still pretty much on schedule.
In an earlier post before 5 a.m., WMATA said trains were indefinitely delayed and bus times may also be delayed due to the computer system issue.
Drivers had to deal with it too
If you weren’t traveling by plane or transit, you might still have run into issues. E-ZPass services in Maryland and the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles also impacted.
The Maryland Department of Emergency Management declared a partial state of emergency, reminding travelers to check their flight status and warned that of E-ZPass service delays.
In addition, all Maryland courts, offices, and facilities were closed to the public Friday, but remained open for emergency matters, according to a notice on the Maryland Courts website.
While the Virginia Department of Emergency Management did not declare a state of emergency, the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles closed all customer service centers and said online transactions were unavailable.
Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike said that the issue believed to be behind the outage was not a security incident or cyberattack. The company said the problem occurred when it deployed a faulty update to computers running Microsoft Windows.
The White House is in contact with CrowdStrike executives
The White House says it is in regular contact with executives at CrowdStrike, which makes the software tied to the global internet outage. President Joe Biden is continuing to receive updates, officials said.
Federal agencies also are assessing the effects of the CrowdStrike outage on U.S. government operations, the White House said.
WTOP’s Will Vitka and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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