Update on one effect of last night’s up-to-3-hours West Seattle power outage (WSB as-it-happened coverage here) – a spill at the Lowman Beach pump station, where WSB contributing journalist Christopher Boffoli took that photo last night (the light in the background was from a county truck at the pump station). This news release is just in from King County:
A power failure in West Seattle last night knocked out electricity at King County’s Murray Avenue Pump Station, causing a small sewage overflow near Lowman Beach Park.
County employees responded quickly Wednesday night and installed a portable generator to provide back up power during the outage. Crews stopped the overflow within 30 minutes.
It’s estimated that about 65,000 gallons of wastewater was discharged through the pump station’s emergency outfall into Puget Sound.
County staff took water quality samples and notified health and regulatory agencies about the overflow.
Utility power was back online within two hours and the facility is again operating normally.
We have followup questions out to Seattle City Light regarding the cause of the “underground cable failure” blamed for last night’s outage, which affected almost 2,800 homes and businesses at its peak.
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