Microsoft outage disrupts South Bay city hall communications

A massive Microsoft outage disrupted communications at South Bay city halls Thursday, leaving municipal employees in Rancho Palos Verdes, Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach, and Santa Monica with technical problems. The disruption coincided with nationwide failures affecting Outlook, Teams, and other Microsoft 365 services. Rancho Palos Verdes issued a public alert advising residents to use telephone or in-person assistance, while other cities confirmed public services remained operational. Downdetector recorded over 130,000 Outlook reports and 46,000 Microsoft 365 reports by late morning, with Microsoft citing unexpected server failures after failed automated health checks. Engineers were restarting servers and testing fixes, but no restoration timetable was announced. The outage highlighted local governments' heavy reliance on cloud-based systems for routine operations, with residents urged to monitor Microsoft's service status page for updates.