(This was our morning report; go here for ongoing afternoon coverage – thanks!)
(Photo added 7:54 am – power out at Admiral/California intersection, businesses too, but City Light went by)
6:52 AM: If you wake up and notice your clocks are out of synch with battery-powered sources like your cell phone or watch – part of north West Seattle lost power in the early-morning hours. Roughly 3-4 am, judging by the smattering of notes we received. Some may still be out (let us know if you are) – complete information isn’t available because the city website is down, but Seattle City Light’s Twitter account reported about an hour ago that 838 West Seattle customers were still out of service at that time, and has not updated since. Meantime, might still be a good time to check on battery/charging status of key devices – it’s not only still pouring, but at least where we are, the wind has picked up in a big way.
7:12 AM UPDATE: Some confirmations in comments and via Facebook that some people are still without power in Admiral. The biggest outage, described by SCL on FB as 2,800 homes/businesses in Alki/Harbor Avenue, started at 2:20 am; at least one of those customers reported the power returning around 4. We’re heading out now to survey both power and road flooding – especially perennial deep-water trouble spots like West Marginal Way/Highland Park Way, where some problems were reported in the very early morning hours. The National Weather Service is warning of slide danger as well as urban/”small stream” flooding.
7:50 AM: First major intersection where the power’s still out: Admiral/California. Looks like the businesses on all four corners, too, as well as the stoplights. (a few minutes later) The outage is centered here JUST around the Admiral/California junction – the Lander stoplight is on (at Lafayette/Hiawatha); heading eastbound, while the west side of 42nd is out, the east side (with Metropolitan Market [WSB sponsor] and Safeway gas station is ON). Jack in the Box has NO power, same for businesses in the Linda’s/Bird/Heavenly/Alki B&B building and the CIrca/cleaners building. On the north side of the outage, no lights or signs of power are evident before the flashing yellow light at SW Walker/California SW. (a few minutes later) On the west, the outage stretches to the east side of 44th – 7-11 has NO power, Bank of America is out – but the power is on starting with the west side of 44th. Heading down to the water now to check on Alki/Harbor.
8:29 AM: Just drove Alki from Seacrest to Cactus, power’s ON, no apparent problems – though the road shows numerous signs of undone pothole repairs – the gravel/asphalt material littering the lanes, holes reopened – so be careful, even in the middle of the road away from the puddles. In addition to the Admiral/California outage, there may be other pockets – Mac just mentioned via Twitter that they’re OUT along Ferry in North Admiral. Please note that while the city website is back on, the current SCL “tracker” is NOT accurate – it doesn’t show any of the areas where we’ve verified the power’s out. Also to reiterate – the Alaska/California Junction was ***not*** affected so plans are still ON for today’s Hometown Holidays festivities (Santa photos, Farmers Market, etc.).
8:59 AM: A crew was just putting out signs to close West Marginal Way SW south of Puget, as we arrived to check out reports of tree trouble as well as deep water (so much puddling even north of here, it’s not safe to drive) – so avoid W. Marginal Way TFN – we’ll be trying to check from the south side to see how far the closure stretches.
9:19 AM: If you need sandbags, there are still a few left on the east side of Delridge Community Center – photo above is from just a couple moments ago. (later note – as of 10:30, all gone, will try to find out if more will come)
9:37 AM: Longfellow Creek is now over its banks by Allstar Fitness. The parking lot was just being roped off as we drove up. Here’s the creek overflowing the nearby pedestrian bridge:
Club still open as far as we know. (P.S. For those who’ve asked – here’s the famous 12/2007 photo.)
9:53 AM: In case you were wondering, the West Seattle Farmers’ Market IS up and running (will be, at 10 am) – just drove by, vendors finishing setup – The Junction was NOT affected by the power outage. Santa photos start at 11 am at Donna Ryan Photography (this week’s $15 donation benefits West Seattle Helpline).
10:16 AM: City Light’s most recent estimate for restoring Admiral power is 11 am – we’ll be back there to check in person (and please let us know if you’re in the area, the second you’re back on).
10:35 AM UPDATE: Thanks to Laura and Pete for the note that Delridge CC is out of sandbags again. We’ll try to find out if more will be available. Meantime, WSDOT says the northbound I-5 exit to the West Seattle Bridge is closed, too much water. That and West Marginal Way SW are the two main closures affecting WS – that we know of, anyway – so far. Seattle Parks also reports the Longfellow Creek flooding has closed the WS Golf Course.
10:55 AM UPDATE: The NB I-5 exit to WS Bridge has reopened, says WSDOT. City Light says the still-out Admiral customers should be back on “within the hour.”
11:18 AM UPDATE: Starting to get word of people indeed getting their power back on in the Admiral outage zone. Muttley Crew Cuts (42nd/Admiral, west side) says theirs is back.
11:36 AM UPDATE: The photo above is the intrepid crew at the Hometown Holidays (co-sponsored by WSB) tent outside KeyBank in The Junction, there till 3 pm. Bring pet food for the donation drive! They’re kitty corner from Santa’s photo HQ at Donna Ryan Photography (also till 3). Meantime, the rain is lightening just a bit … the clouds seem to be lightening a bit … there’s hope this really will ease later this afternoon. We’ll be starting an afternoon story within the next hour or so, with ongoing afternoon updates – till then, this one is “stuck” atop the home page, with any newer news going beneath it, fyi.
12:10 PM: Though West Marginal Way SW is open again at the spot where we found it closed earlier, there’s a massive puddle further south and police were putting out flares – plus we lost our steering going through it (too late to turn around), and there are other big puddles further north, so AVOID W. Marginal TFN. Also beware Oregon just east of Delridge; there’s gravel all over the road.
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