Amazon Web Services Data Center Caught Fire Amid Middle East Strikes

Amazon Web Services said that it could take at least a day to repair damage to one of its data centers in the United Arab Emirates caused by a fire at the facility.

The company lost connectivity from the data center after one of its “Availability Zones” had been “impacted by objects” at around 7:30 a.m. ET on Sunday, the company previously said.

“We are expecting recovery to take at least a day, as it requires repair of facilities, cooling and power systems, coordination with local authorities, and careful assessment to ensure the safety of our operators,” the company said via a service status page update posted at 9:22 a.m. ET on Monday.

The Sunday fire at the AWS facility happened during US and Israeli military strikes on Iran and retaliatory attacks from the Iranian military on at least half a dozen Gulf states.

The company did not say in its statement what the objects were. In a previous update on the AWS dashboard posted Sunday, the company said that “sparks and fire” were caused by an object impacting one of the facilities.

“The fire department shut off power to the facility and generators as they worked to put out the fire,” the company said.

Amazon added that it recommended customers “enact their disaster recovery plans” and recover from remote backups into alternate AWS Regions.

According to Amazon’s website, an availability zone can comprise one or more data centers. The company has three availability zones in the UAE, per its coverage map.

Earlier Monday, the company reported that a second Middle East availability zone, in Bahrain, had a “localized power issue.” As of 9:23 a.m. ET, Amazon was still working to restore power for that zone.

Photos and videos showed missiles streaking across the sky in Dubai on Saturday and Sunday. Fallout from intercepted missiles caused fires and other problems across the region. The Fairmont’s famed luxury property on the Palm saw damage, as did Dubai’s main airport and the Burj Al-Arab hotel.