(TOPLINE: Power restored after a little more than one hour; ‘cable failure’ blamed)
11:01 PM: Thanks to everyone who’s been calling and texting – as of a few minutes ago, more than 4,100 homes/businesses have lost power in north West Seattle. Don’t know why yet. More to come.
11:08 PM: Just added screengrab from City Light map showing where the power’s out. Commenters and texters report something that resembles a possible transformer explosion preceding the loss of power.
@westseattleblog we live next to Delridge substation, heard what sounded like two explosion with bright flashes.
— Lindsey Hurd (@lindseyhurd) December 14, 2014
City Light site guesstimates restoration by 2 am but remember – that’s just an estimate, could be sooner, could be later.
11:13 PM: Denny tweets that the apartment-rich zone along Avalon is affected:
@westseattleblog power out here on 35th & Avalon. Lots of cars not able to get into their parking garages. Hope no one's stuck in elevators
— Denny Lee (@DennyJLee) December 14, 2014
11:24 PM: In fact, the SFD 911 log indicates a couple “elevator rescue” calls, on Avalon and Alki.
11:29 PM: City Light just tweeted for the first time, but no information beyond what we’ve already gotten from the outage map – “early estimate” of restoration ~2 am, no cause verified yet, not even with all these reports of an explosion preceding it.
11:43 PM: From City Light’s site, “what to do in case of an outage.” We’d add from experience – unplug major appliances unless you have great surge protectors; last outage, a computer we didn’t unplug was damaged when the power surged back on. One other point while we await updates – while the outage affects more than 4,100 “customers,” it affects many more people; a “customer” is an account, a home, a business, sometimes an entire multi-unit building.
12:04 AM: Multiple reports that the power’s back on.
12:12 AM: The map now shows everybody back on – so if you’re not, please call City Light, 206-684-3000. The only indication of its cause appeared on the map in the past 20 minutes or so – “equipment failure.” We might not be able to get further details until Monday.
12:18 AM: Scratch that; we do have a little more information from SCL via social media: “Cause was underground cable failure leading from substation.”
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