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(Screengrab from City Light outage map’s West Seattle section, 1:59 pm)
1:43 PM: Just getting word of the first significant power outages in West Seattle so far this blustery day – west of The Junction, North Admiral, and the City Light map also shows two other outages – 117 customers near Lincoln Park and 72 customers in Highland Park. (If your outage is NOT on the map, please call SCL at 206-684-3000!)
UPDATED, 1:53 PM: Now the SCL map has updated. We’re adding a screengrab. “Tree” is the listed cause. More than 4,000 customers are out in West Seattle. Also, Seattle Fire is at 44th and Rose in Gatewood, where a tree fell into a transformer/power line – thanks for the texted photo:
(back to original report) All this follows hours of off-and-on gusty winds – we caught some on video a little while ago:
Wind tousling trees in Gateleroy. pic.twitter.com/ZcDSvsFW6Y
— West Seattle Blog (@westseattleblog) October 14, 2016
Other notes:
FORECAST: We’re still under a Wind Advisory until 6 tonight, and a High Wind Watch is up for noon Saturday through 3 am Sunday. Next forecast update is expected within a few hours.
TIDE REMINDER, IF YOU MISSED IT: Busy news day so you might not have seen this, but high tides are coinciding with the strong wind because of tomorrow’s full moon.
(Texted photo added above – Beach Drive this afternoon. Thanks to Craig Joseph for sharing it!) Speaking of which …
NEED SANDBAGS? The Delridge Community Center is out of them but expecting more later today. If you need them urgently, try the South Park Community Center.
2:22 PM: A commenter says Delridge has sandbags now. Meantime, a father and 4-year-old son are being taken to the hospital after being hit by a falling tree branch near Fauntleroy Church (which abuts forested Fauntleroy Park). We got to the scene just as the child was about to be transported to Harborview; his father is still being evaluated.
Too soon for information on the circumstances – we will update when we find out more.
3:13 PM: SFD describes the child’s injuries as serious, the father’s injuries as minor.
(added Friday evening) Fauntleroy Church minister Rev. Leah Atkinson Bilinski sent this statement:
I was very sad today to learn about the father and son struck by a tree near Fauntleroy Church. As concerned community members, we will be working with the Seattle Parks and Recreation Department to better understand the incident, but our primary concern right now is for the family involved in this accident. They are YMCA patrons and neighbors, and our hearts go out to them.
As I was away from the church today, I also wish to say a big “thank you” to the church and Y staff and community members who quickly responded to offer help and care until emergency personnel could arrive.
(back to previous coverage) Meantime, regarding the power outage – we’re getting multiple reports that traffic signals are out in The Junction, though the outage is only affecting the west side of the street. We’re headed that way for an update.
3:46 PM: Thanks for the updates. About a third of those who were out now have their power back, Admiral/North according to the map. We’re still working our way to The Junction. Meantime, a falling branch seems to have played a role in a crash on eastbound Olson, blocking the turn to southbound Myers.
No injuries as far as we can tell – SFD was not called for medical assistance.
4:11 PM: We just stopped by The Junction. California/Alaska signal is indeed out. And businesses on the west side of the street are still without power, many with handwritten “closed/power out” signs.
Further north, a big problem hasn’t been fixed yet at Hinds/47th – this power-pole problem:
Thanks to everyone who sent photos earlier. This is near Madison Middle School, which has a fire-alarm call right now – don’t know if it’s related. We can hear the alarm from where we’re checking out the power pole situation.
ADDED 4:47 PM: If you’re just getting ready to leave for home .. it’s partly sunny over here, still breezy.
5:07 PM: Regarding the sirens and emergency vehicles – it’s for a possible rescue which we’re covering separately.
Also, tomorrow’s weather alert is now up to High Wind Warning status, 3 pm Saturday-2 am Sunday. We’ll get a separate evening weather story going after our coverage of the potential rescue.
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