News Roundup

THIS IS AN EXERCISE

Late yesterday afternoon, the Internet seemed to be working largely as expected again for many service providers. Quality of service continued to be a concern. Some outliers appeared still to be suffering from isolation from the rest of the network as engineers continue addressing problems. Sources speaking on the condition of anonymity are now saying that recent network problems in the United States may be over-attributed to recent attacks.

The evening of March 29 saw severe weather in Oklahoma and Texas with damaging winds and thunderstorms impeding communications and power. Recovery from those localized impacts seems to correlate with reports of improvement in Internet service throughout the morning of Sunday, March 30.

Sunday afternoon and into the evening, degraded service was again being reported and some feared that countermeasures to the attacks were not as effective as hoped. Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee all saw severe weather cause power outages and structural damage due to winds, fallen trees, and hail as large as baseballs. Travel and communication were also impacted.

The system moved through Ohio late Sunday evening and into Monday morning. Severe thunderstorms brought damaging winds, hail, and spin-up tornadoes. Specific regions affected by tornado warnings included:

• Northeastern Warren County, Western Fayette County, Northern Clinton County, and Southeastern Greene County: A tornado warning was active for these areas in southwestern and west central Ohio, expiring around 9:46 PM EDT.

• Southeastern Fayette County, East Central Clinton County, Northeastern Highland County, and Northwestern Ross County: Another tornado warning covered these parts of central and south central Ohio, expiring around 10:16 PM EDT.

• Areas around Jeffersonville, Midway, South Solon, Madison Mill, Mount Sterling, Derby, Orient, Commercial Point, Darbyville, Big Plain, South Bloomfield, Darbydale, Grove City, and Chrisman: This warning was reported for parts of central Ohio, expiring around 10:45 PM EDT.

Additionally, a broader Tornado Watch was in effect until 1:00 AM EDT on March 31, 2025, covering counties such as Delaware, Fairfield, Franklin, Licking, Madison, Pickaway, and Union. By 11:20 PM EDT, this watch was canceled for most local areas except for far southern Ohio (including Hocking County and Scioto County) and northeastern Kentucky, where the storm line persisted.

These storms led to significant disruptions in Ohio, including thousands of power outages reported across the region. For instance, AEP Ohio noted nearly 24,600 outages at one point, with the heaviest impacts in Franklin, Licking, and Delaware counties. The outages have impacted communication systems reliant on electricity, including internet and cellular services. Reports on social media indicate loss of cell service even in major cities as the storm hit.

This morning officials are cautiously optimistic that services will return to normal today. Many services that recovered from the attacks are now isolated due to storms. Emergency Operations Centers in affected areas and for agencies supporting them are partially activated. are now working but "backups remain in place while we finish the process of recovery."

THIS IS AN EXERCISE