I follow space weather on a daily basis for work - links below. This is a small to middling flare. Any terrestrial problems will show up in upper latitude power grids. the largest radio blackouts happened yesterday. (in the range of 2-3 radio only). the Carrington event was a 4-5 level geo-magnetic. Some communication birds may be blacked out for a bit but there isn't enough radiation flux to move them too much - the follow on atmospheric disturbance will affect LEOs, only in the coming few days.
an analogy that might help; this event type x1.6 is like a popping fireplace spark hitting your carpet (annoying and can be dangerous). as compared to a forest fire engulfing your house (annoying and probably fatal) G5.
this was a CME (coronal mass ejection). if you live in the northern hemisphere and the sky is clear you just might be able to see an aurora as the particles catch up from the original blast. best dates are the nights of the 12th and 13th. look for a green glow low in the northern sky.
here is what you can expect from an X1.6 from the NOAA web site.
http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/NOAAscales/index.html#GeomagneticStormslinks mentioned above.
the fun one - go to the bottom, it tracks NEO asteroids too.
http://www.spaceweather.com/the one I use most
http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/index.html
