West Seattle power outage: Some out; for others, a flicker

| Utilities | West Seattle news

1:46 AM: It’s one of those things that can make you wonder if it was just a flicker at your place … but no, shortly after 1 am, per social-media discussion, it seems a brief power interruption was fairly widespread in West Seattle. A few people report hearing a “boom,” which suggests a transformer problem somewhere; as we write this, the City Light outage map is showing 77 residences out around and above the Me-Kwa-Mooks area of Beach Drive.

2:07 AM: The map has now bumped the number up to 181.

2:22 AM: .. and it’s back to 77, along with the notation that the cause is blamed on “bird/animal.” Restoration is estimated to be up to two hours away.

wssz December 14, 2013 (2:14 am)

My power was out for about two minutes. I’m between Mee Kwa Mooks and the Alaska Junction. Very glad the power came back so fast. Would be good to know the cause — seems like it would have taken awhile to repair a transformer but maybe the power is re-routed automatically?

WSB December 14, 2013 (2:17 am)

The map notation now says “bird/animal” which explains the boom. Some poor critter on a transformer or crossing wires.

Heather December 14, 2013 (6:20 am)

We are just west of the Junction, overlooking territorial views, and the sound. About 1 am we had just gone to bed, had just closed our eyes, and we saw a big burst of light, followed by a boom-like sound. Then sitting upright in bed a few seconds later, we saw lights come back on for several blocks west of us.

Carly December 14, 2013 (6:42 am)

Power outage more widespread than shown on map. Woke up to flashing clocks this morning at 48 and Juneau.

WSB December 14, 2013 (8:59 am)

Carly – the map wouldn’t show places where it just went out for a minute or two or flickered so that might be the explanation. It’s what City Light showed, and they do acknowledge their system isn’t perfect – there are some areas of West Seattle with the oldest power lines/feeders (particularly a section of Gatewood) where they don’t know unless someone calls, which of course wasn’t going to be the case for everyone in the middle of the night. – TR

JK December 14, 2013 (7:56 am)

Flashing clocks this morning as well. 46th and Raymond.

Bianca December 14, 2013 (8:14 am)

Clock was off by the lighthouse

JayDee December 14, 2013 (8:50 am)

56th and Hanford must have had enough of a flicker to shutdown the sleeping Mac…glad to have a reason for the restart…

dancing kat December 14, 2013 (8:50 am)

Flashing clocks when we woke up also….54th & Dakota.

Bruce McLaughlin December 14, 2013 (10:02 am)

51st Place was out for an hour and five minutes. Fun resetting all the clocks and things with timers.

BDO December 14, 2013 (10:03 am)

-A barely perceptible flicker N. of Admiral Way /42nd SW.

-Have experienced outages here with boom and flash- transformers tripped by unfortunate crows shorting a power line fuse. Responding SCL often can point out the culprit, singed feathers and bones in a heap nearby.

-Some lines may be underfused (our neighborhood feeder fuses were found too low by half) and trip too easily. -SCL will spec and correct this if needed so too-low trip threshold doesn’t create unnecessary outages.

Aubra December 14, 2013 (10:05 am)

We are at 60th SW and Admiral, and lost power for about 10 seconds at about 1:07.

Alley Cat December 14, 2013 (10:21 am)

Flashing clocks middle of night 3400 Alki Ave. SW

Findlay December 14, 2013 (12:53 pm)

34th SW & Findlay lost power as well

pie December 14, 2013 (1:51 pm)

i woke up about 5 minutes before… was just about to fall asleep then the weird (and it was a weird sounding) boom happened. husband was still awake and said we flickered. i’m surprised it was that loud being so far away from us. we’re at 46th and genesse. glad for this report-we thought we were hearing things after no cop or fire sirens…