KC-area schools, businesses impacted by global IT outage

GRANDVIEW, Mo. – From Johnson County, Kansas to Jackson County, Missouri, department of motor vehicles offices are having issues, leaving drivers frustrated.

Officials say it’s due to the global tech outage that also impacted everything from airports to delays at hospitals.

The IT issue is causing headaches worldwide, and here at home.

Dozens of people left the DMV in Grandview shaking their heads. They saw a sign on the door that said, “Due to a Global Outage the Grandview License Office is closed.”

“It looked kind of strange because I pulled up and it’s never this empty, but I got up to the door and it’s closed.”

Jose Esparza saw an empty parking lot outside the Grandview DMV and thought he scored with a short line

Turns out, the door was locked. They’re closed, and the sign said it’s due to a global outage.

State of Missouri’s Office of Administration said the, “Information Technology Services Division (OA-ITSD) became aware of a widespread systems defect causing a blue screen error at individual workstations. Investigation revealed this was caused by a faulty CrowdStrike update that is impacting customers worldwide.”

“CrowdStrike has rolled back the update and deployed a fix, however, some of our state systems were impacted as a result of the update. The OA-ITSD team is working diligently to bring our consolidated state agency systems back online.”

CrowdStrike is a cybersecurity company, according to the State of Missouri.

The CEIO assures people this is not a cyberattack, just an outage. Still, dozens of people at the DMV left feeling frustrated.

“It’s really inconvenient, to be honest,” Esparza said, “Coming all the way out here, we stay in Kansas City trying to see if they were open, but they weren’t.”

“I’m shocked,” Sharron Moore said.

Moore will have to wait to get her driver’s license renewed.

“I’m very disappointed that it’s closed,” Moore said. “I also went to Belton, I had no idea about this global outage.”

Michael Shockley drove from Kansas City to renew his tags.

“I left Belton, the same thing – software problem, all around the world,” Shockley said. “Just a waste of my time I had to take off of work.”

He said a similar sign was on the door at the DMV in Belton.

Johnson County, Kansas posted on social media saying, “ Johnson County’s Motor Vehicle system managed by the Kansas Department of Revenue is experiencing state-wide issues, resulting in our inability to process transactions.”

Wellsville and Lee’s Summit Schools said they’ve been impacted by the outage.

Lee’s Summit said it uses Microsoft products and parents accessing the registration portal may need to wait until it reopens.

Saint Luke’s and the University of Kansas Health System said patient care is business as usual. However, the issue has created delays surrounding appointments.

The outage has also impacted other businesses, airlines and banks.

“That’s scary to think about because that’s a lot of services we use and for them to be down, like that’s a big shock to me.”

The Missouri Department of Transportation told FOX4, “The global outage to computer systems has impacted MoDOTs customer service line and KC Scout. MoDOTs Traveler Information Map is working although camera views in the KC metro are not available at the moment.”

MoDOT said they’re working to restore their systems.

Jackson County said the Assessment Department Programs impacted by the outage have been restored and are operated.

“The department will be rescheduling appointments that were originally scheduled for [Friday] morning,” Jackson County Public Information Ofc. Marshanna C. Smith said. “We thank the community for their patience and understanding.”

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