UPDATE: ‘Bad cable’ blamed for hourlong West Seattle power outage affecting 3,770+ in High Point, Upper Morgan, Gatewood, Fauntleroy, Westwood

| Utilities | West Seattle news

FIRST REPORT, 3:33 AM: Just a few minutes ago, the power suddenly went out here on the Fauntleroy/Gatewood line. Anyone else? Not on the City Light outage map yet.

3:38 AM: Now it is. More than 3,770 customers (customer = home or business). Looks like roughly Brandon on the north, Henderson on the south.

3:51 AM: No word yet from City Light re: the cause, and we’re not hearing anything related on the scanner. SCL map now suggests a 10 am restoration time, but please keep in mind, that’s only a guesstimate – could be sooner, could be later.

4:05 AM: Though City Light’s Twitter feed is insisting on saying the outage is in Delridge, it’s not. No part of Delridge involved. High Point, Sunrise Heights, Upper Morgan, Gatewood, Fauntleroy, a bit of Westwood.

4:32 AM: Our power just came back on, in Upper Fauntleroy. (added) From comments, sounds like most other affected areas are back too, but the City Light map hasn’t caught up just yet.

4:40 AM: And now it has – outage over after a little more than an hour. Via Twitter, SCL says the outage was the result of “a bad cable.”

HP July 13, 2016 (3:34 am)

Out in High Point.

Paul July 13, 2016 (3:35 am)

Out at the top of sunrise heights at 36th and Othello

Zak July 13, 2016 (3:35 am)

35th and Morgan. No lights in any direction. Spooky stuff.

joy July 13, 2016 (3:36 am)

Ditto in high point

Summer July 13, 2016 (3:36 am)

I’m on 31st in between Raymond and Juneau. It’s out here too.

Jeff July 13, 2016 (3:36 am)

Out in high point too.

RelievedMama July 13, 2016 (3:37 am)

Yes, we lost power too.

Rachel July 13, 2016 (3:37 am)

High poi t

j July 13, 2016 (3:37 am)

35th & Thistle, we are out

Sarah James July 13, 2016 (3:38 am)

35th and Thistle too.

SB July 13, 2016 (3:39 am)

Highpoint is dark as well.

Karlynn July 13, 2016 (3:39 am)

Freaky. Wonder what is going on? Woke me up when the fan turned off.

Anne July 13, 2016 (3:40 am)

39 th & Morgan out

Judy July 13, 2016 (3:40 am)

Out of power at 35th and thistle

D July 13, 2016 (3:40 am)

In High Point where we are out power. On Bataan, however neighbors across the street look to be unaffected.

Steven July 13, 2016 (3:41 am)

Graham Terrace Condos -35th & Graham

Nighty Night July 13, 2016 (3:41 am)

Out in Gatewood.

Stacy July 13, 2016 (3:41 am)

We are out. By fire station and Chevron. I thought I heard gunfire just a few seconds ago as well. Very scary.

Pibal July 13, 2016 (3:42 am)

California & Holden too.

Andros July 13, 2016 (3:42 am)

Ya. Trippy here. Everything just died at 35th and Morgan.

Andy July 13, 2016 (3:43 am)

The lights at approximately 50th and Genesee Hill flickered off and then quickly back on 3 or 4 times.

Jeff July 13, 2016 (3:45 am)

I’m scared. Hold me!

Gate wood July 13, 2016 (3:45 am)

Also thought I heard a shot and car speeding off. I m a block or two from Chevron.

Ali July 13, 2016 (3:46 am)

Yup, out in Gatewood. Anyone know why yet?

WSB July 13, 2016 (3:49 am)

No, City Light does not yet have the cause. We’re listening to the scanner and not hearing anything obvious there either. If anyone sees power crews near their home, please comment (or text/call us at 206-293-6302), could be the site of origin … TR

~hockeywitch~ July 13, 2016 (3:47 am)

At 35th ave and Morgan… Dark here..went out about 3:31. Cats are freaking out…weird

Insomniac July 13, 2016 (3:48 am)

Out on the West side of 35th & Trenton. The East side of the street appears to have power.

Agnes July 13, 2016 (3:49 am)

Woke up when the CPAP stopped. :( Thanks for being there – any news as to cause?

Sage K. July 13, 2016 (3:49 am)

Delridge / Juneau flickered several times and heard what sounded like transformers blowing. But the lights are still on.

Tamsen Spengler July 13, 2016 (3:50 am)

Out on 38th and Morgan too.

Sea Chanty July 13, 2016 (3:51 am)

Morgan Junction still lit,

Denise July 13, 2016 (3:54 am)

Sounded like gun shouts. Black car drove very fast past our house on myrtle.

Ava July 13, 2016 (3:54 am)

I heard three loud explosions before the outage. Assumed it was fireworks. Close to highpoint.

Mandrew July 13, 2016 (3:54 am)

Loving the silence

Keith July 13, 2016 (3:55 am)

Power went out at 37th near Southern about 3:30. Baby monitor woke me up. I stepped on the deck and heard loud gunshots (assuming a transformer blowing) followed by screeching car tires near southern and 35th. Moments later, more gunshot sounds closer to high point.

TBag July 13, 2016 (3:56 am)

Nothing wakes me up faster than when my CPAP machine’s power is cut and I wake up snorting. On the bright side, it’s always good to be able to wake up.

WSB July 13, 2016 (4:00 am)

Half an hour in, no cause yet.

Beckyjo July 13, 2016 (3:58 am)

Mt lights flicked 51st Edmund’s

Bar b July 13, 2016 (3:58 am)

Out at 39th & Cloverdale

~hockeywitch~ July 13, 2016 (4:02 am)

I live across from High Point and didn’t hear anything, except for my TV and Fan going off. Now I can’t sleep. Too quiet. Getting dressed in the dark for work will be fun.

Tara Melnikoff July 13, 2016 (4:04 am)

Out at California and Thistle. Wierd

Patrick July 13, 2016 (4:05 am)

@ Stacy, I heard what sounded like 2 gunshots with a Red Chevy Impala high rate of speed NB 70+mph on 35th past Chevron

Was approx. 1-2 mins after power went out

Sea Chanty July 13, 2016 (4:09 am)

It is odd to see Gatewood Hill dark, but even odder to see two lone street lights lit at the top of the hill…right across from each other.

Paul July 13, 2016 (4:11 am)

We heard what sounded like 4 gunshots a few minutes after the outage. Been quiet since then. We can’t sleep either since we normally have a fan running now too quiet

Tony July 13, 2016 (4:13 am)

Out at 36th and Trenton. Woke up when house alarm beeped and fan turned off. Too quiet to sleep now. Seattle city light estimates restoration at 10 am. Hopefully that’s a very rough estimate.

WSB July 13, 2016 (4:20 am)

Tony – We mentioned that in the story above, with the caveat that the estimates are ALWAYS just guesstimates. We’ve seen the power go on much sooner than the guesstimates … and, unfortunately, much later. One thing to note is that Alki, Admiral, The Junction are not affected, nor is Westwood Village, so most West Seattle businesses will be on. If yours is out and opening time draws near, let us know. If this is still going when it gets light, we’ll be out to survey the intersections, etc. – TR

~hockeywitch~ July 13, 2016 (4:15 am)

Just had a SCL truck go south up the hill at 35th and Morgan about 5 mins ago. There was also a police officer either at the gas station or the UHaul (couldn’t tell could only see their lights). Then they left.

Jeff July 13, 2016 (4:15 am)

37th & Holden still completely dark. Always surprising how many electrical things are usually on in the house when suddenly they are not!

Brian July 13, 2016 (4:17 am)

… Nothing like the fan shutting off to wake you up. I figured it was someone driving and catching Pokémon meeting a pole… But no sirens at all yet so I highly doubt that.

And remember kids no Pokémon and driving.

KN July 13, 2016 (4:23 am)

We also heard several loud noises as the lights went out then what sounded like tires squealing (35th and Thistle)

Alex July 13, 2016 (4:30 am)

Power out at 38th & Kenyon. But what woke me up was (I think) a gun shot followed by a car speeding off and then several more (I think) gun shots.

Jeff July 13, 2016 (4:32 am)

Omg its back on!!

Brian July 13, 2016 (4:32 am)

And it’s back on at 0431

Tamsen Spengler July 13, 2016 (4:32 am)

Power on at 38th and Morgan .Yea.

Margo July 13, 2016 (4:32 am)

California and Southern just got power.

CM July 13, 2016 (4:32 am)

Power just kicked back on near 35th and Trenton.

Paul July 13, 2016 (4:32 am)

Just came back. Power on in sunrise heights

Jeff July 13, 2016 (4:32 am)

Power just came back up at 37th & Holden!

CBurns July 13, 2016 (4:33 am)

Just came on, 37th & Rose!!

Summer July 13, 2016 (4:33 am)

Powers back in highpoint

WSB July 13, 2016 (4:34 am)

Ours is back too, Upper Fauntleroy. Waiting for the City Light map to catch up to see if everyone’s back or just part.

Debbie July 13, 2016 (4:33 am)

Power just came back on California and Ida

Anne July 13, 2016 (4:33 am)

Power back on 39th & Morgan

~hockeywitch~ July 13, 2016 (4:34 am)

Power is back on at 35th and Morgan… My A/C just turned on…hope everyone else is back on too.

Back to sleep for me…thank you WSB for keeping us informed

Ginny Bear July 13, 2016 (4:34 am)

Power on at Ida and 41st.

Tony July 13, 2016 (4:34 am)

Power restored at 36th and Trenton

Zak July 13, 2016 (4:34 am)

Lights on again. 35th & Morgan.

: ) July 13, 2016 (4:34 am)

Power on between Fauntleroy and graham

Jon Shields July 13, 2016 (4:38 am)

Woke up at 4:30 am (fan was off, emergency lights were on); not sure how long it was off, but all my devices on chargers were ~95% charged. Power just came back on around 4:35 am (40th & Graham & Fauntleroy).

WSB July 13, 2016 (4:43 am)

Thanks to everyone for the reports! As just added above, SCL blames a “bad cable.” – Tracy

Erika July 13, 2016 (4:44 am)

Interesting. There was an outage earlier (yesterday) across the bridge in North Beacon Hill, affecting close to 10K, never heard what caused that one.

WSB July 13, 2016 (4:45 am)

Erika – here’s what SCL tweeted about the cause of that one:
https://twitter.com/SEACityLight/status/752949479469228032
Neighbor July 13, 2016 (6:22 am)

The Beacon Hill outage was caused when a roofing truck tried to make friends with a power line. It didn’t go well.

http://www.capitolhillseattle.com/2016/07/trucks-lift-strikes-lines-in-central-district-knocks-out-power-to-thousands/

LyndaB July 13, 2016 (6:32 am)

So glad I had a backup wakeup alarm for this morning. And of course, WSB had the explanation. Thank you, friends! :)

john July 13, 2016 (7:24 am)

Three rapid gunshots, shortly after the power went out. Sounded close, 35 and Othello.

Bonnie July 13, 2016 (7:39 am)

39th and Henderson. Didn’t lose power. Must have missed by just houses or a block!

Sarah July 13, 2016 (8:56 am)

So, not sure if related at all, but I live on 37th between Raymond and Graham, and our power was out (with advance notice) yesterday while SCL replaced the utility pole and transformer in our alley. Our power did not cut off overnight, but apparently everything around us did. I wonder if the outage was possibly related to our pole replacement project? Or not, and we didn’t lose power because of the new hardware. Who knows!

chemist July 13, 2016 (12:11 pm)

Probably unrelated if you maintained power. A downed line will generally cause breakers/fuses to blow and some breakers will try to automatically reset a few times (which is what I observed when the power went out in these nearby neighborhoods and there were multiple “pulses” where my UPS was activating/compensating). Your step-down transformer will only be responsible for a few houses and would be fed from the neighborhood feeder line.

Mary July 13, 2016 (6:22 pm)

My power was back on in 1 hour (4:30 a.m.). So why is it that my TV via Century Link Prism is not on at 6:23 p.m. and Century Link says it won’t be restored until 12:45 a.m. on Thursday? They blame it on the power outage yet the outage it fixed.

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