Google Search Suffers Global Outage – Three Injured in Data Center Power Accident

Google search had serious problems yesterday and speculation linked the outage to an accident. According to reports yesterday, Google data center in Council Bluffs, Iowa had an “electrical incident”. The company revealed that there were three casualties and all staff are now receiving treatment following the incident. According to Sfgate, the incident happened at 11:59 a.m. local time on Monday. Three electricians were working in a substation near the data center building when an arc flash (electrical explosion) suddenly occurred. causing severe burns to three electricians.

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One electrician was taken by helicopter to the Nebraska Medical Center and two others were taken to the hospital by ambulance. At the time of the call, all employees were still breathing and conscious. The Council Bluffs Police Department later reported that the officers were still alive and receiving treatment.

Google spokesman Devon Smiley later issued a statement on the matter: “We are aware of an electrical incident at Google’s data center in Council Bluffs, Iowa, which has injured three people and staff are currently receiving treatment. The health and safety of all workers is absolutely our top priority and we are working closely with our partners and local authorities to thoroughly investigate the incident and provide the necessary assistance if necessary.”

The Google search crash may be linked to a data center power outage

After the incident, at 9:20 p.m. ET on August 8, according to DownDetector.com, more than 40,000 people in the United States report that they cannot use Google Search. This situation is also reported to have occurred in United Kingdom, Australia as well as Singapore. The timing of the demand problems as well as the incident may not be mere coincidence. There is speculation that the power incident may have links to the Google search outage. However, there is no official response from Google as of now. Google has 14 data centers in the US and a total of 23 worldwide.