West Seattle Weather Watch: Deluge today, wind advisory tomorrow

12:49 PM: Today’s downpour is causing some challenges for drivers – we have word of big puddles along Avalon among other places – more to come – let us know about other trouble spots.

ADDED 1:13 PM: Some photos – top photo is by Christopher Boffoli in The Junction, photo immediately above this paragraph is from Staci at Luna Park Café, where she says it looked like a “river” for a while. We’ve also heard of water “bubbling” from a drain uphill at 35th and Avalon, will be checking on that.

2:44 PM: Just back from driving around to take a look. No remaining signs – the sun’s even been out. As Tiff points out in comments, those hit with temporary flooding included Bakery Nouveau in The Junction, whose Twitter feed says they had to close a while to mop because the rain overwhelmed the drain system – open again now.

5:43 PM: The National Weather Service now has our area under a wind advisory for tomorrow (Thursday), noon-10 pm, saying we could see gusts up to 50 mph.

Kristina March 9, 2011 (12:58 pm)

I crossed the WS Bridge a half hour ago, and it was scary, because in major sections there was so much standing water that there were roostertails, and even going slowly and staying back from other cars it was treacherous. As I got off the bridge and went straight, the little BBQ place on the right looked like it was in danger of getting some water through the front door – an employee was peering out the door worriedly, and there was standing water several inches deep coming to within a couple feet of the door. Along Fauntleroy until I turned right up the Alaska hill there was more standing water as well – hard to tell how deep but certainly well beyond comfort levels. Some of the drains had such a load that they were bubbling up like fountains, splashing, because water was coming at them fast and furious. Drive carefully, and stay indoors if you can until this subsides!

And we just got a call that my daughter’s rock climbing class (Vertical World, Ballard) is canceled due to flooding inside the building…

RobertSeattle March 9, 2011 (1:55 pm)

I’m no civil engineer but every time we have a significant rainfall in a short amount of time it does seem like the WS Bridge is under-designed to handle the water drainage. There are areas under the bridge that it just a torrent of water coming down.

Tiff March 9, 2011 (2:38 pm)

I heard that a few businesses, such as Bakery Nouveau, had to close due to flooding in the Alaskan Juntion.

WSB March 9, 2011 (2:43 pm)

From their Twitter feed, looks like they were closed an hour or so, back open now – TR

I. Ponder March 9, 2011 (3:13 pm)

It rained as hard as I’ve ever seen. Buckets. I immediately ran outside and cleared the drains. I doubt it would be possible to have a greater volume of rain in such a short time.

Genesee Hill March 9, 2011 (4:57 pm)

Watch the Weather Channel sometime if you want to see some heavy rain. There is not a man-made drainage system on the face of the earth that can handle an extraordinary deluge of rain, in my humble opinion.