West Seattle, Washington
14 Sunday
(SCROLL DOWN for updates)
(Wind-whipped whitecaps on Puget Sound, photographed by Peter Commons)
4:16 PM: Though the “wind advisory” expired hours ago, big gusts are causing big trouble right now.
We’ve been covering:
–Two power outages (the bigger one just ended)
–A wires-sparked brush fire east of Lincoln Park
And now we’re getting word of other problems, including:
-Tree down on California north of Hamilton Viewpoint
–Signal Light pole down on 35th at Brandon
Updates to come. And if something is happening where you are and we’re not on it yet, tips/photos appreciated (as always!) at 206-293-6302 – thank you! And stay safe.
4:27 PM: This appears to be the light pole a texter mentioned, down on the west side of 35th SW just north of Brandon:
No traffic effects (but be careful in general because branches are down on some streets).
4:44 PM: And here’s a really BIG blockage:
That’s on California just uphill from Harbor. If you are turning uphill, you can see the problem AND you can detour to Ferry, but if you are coming downhill, right now there’s no warning until you are almost all the way to the blockage – hopefully there will be police and/or signage soon by Hamilton Viewpoint. No crew on scene yet working to clear the trees, either. We tagged SDOT when tweeting this photo in case they hadn’t heard, and they say they’re alerting their Safety Response Team.
4:57 PM: Just in via text, a tree down in North Delridge.
The texter says the tree came down on private property, from the 4th hole of West Seattle Golf Course, and damaged “decks, fences, and a hot tub.”
5:49 PM: Thanks to Colby for the tip that there’s another outage, a little over an hour old, along part of Roxbury near 28th/26th – that’s affecting Roxbury Safeway. We’ll check there in a bit. Not far from there – not wind-related but in case you wondered – 15th SW in White Center is blocked just north of SW 100th because of a driver-vs.-pedestrian incident.
6:34 PM: Roxbury Safeway has some power but exterior lighting is off and cold cases are draped over. Meantime, the outage affecting our HQ and other areas east of Lincoln Park – in Gatewood and Upper Fauntleroy – is now up to 371 customers, per the City Light map. And yet more tree trouble:
Marc near 46th SW/SW Hanford tweeted the photo and reported, “Half the neighbors’ big leaf maple just fell in our yard!”
8:33 PM: Yet more tree trouble. Eileen reports this scene along Glenn Way:
She says, “Not blocking the road – just the sidewalk. Partially covering a couple of parked cars.”
9:52 PM: 8th hour without power. But there’s progress – we saw City Light crews nearby. Also saw crews at the California blockage just up from Harbor Avenue. The tree trouble isn’t over, though – we’ve also heard of one down near 44th and Admiral, and another one in Sunrise Heights. (Added Monday morning – reader photo of the 44th/Admiral tree)
No reports of injuries so far. Meantime, just checked the real-time 911 log and a transformer fire is reported in the 3200 block of Walnut.
10:07 PM: … and the transformer-fire call is already closed. The forecast, meantime, is now for the wind to diminish after midnight. And the next three nights are still projected to have lows in the 20s.
10:16 PM: SDOT says the trees blocking California just up from Harbor are now cleared and the road is open again.
10:53 PM: Tree trouble on Pigeon Point – N. James says this one fell along 22nd SW north of Andover:
N. James sent that – they called 911, but it was determined that the road is not blocked and while some wires are hanging over the street, they’re “high enough for a normal-height vehicle to pass, but trucks may not.”
6:29 AM: We updated the power-outages report overnight but just to note here as well, no major outages remain – a couple small pockets. (The biggest outage was in our area, Upper Fauntleroy/west Gatewood/east of Lincoln Park, 371 customers, restored after 11 hours, around 1:30 am.)
3:50 PM: We’re checking out a Seattle Fire call logged as “brush fire” in west Gatewood – the address is the 4400 block of SW Kenyon but we’ve found the SFD crews at Portland/44th. More to come.
3:53 PM: This fire call involves downed wires, firefighters tell us. They’ve called for City Light. The fire itself is out. This is in the Gatewood/Upper Fauntleroy 150+-customer power-outage zone but we don’t know if this is what’s to blame.
4:03 PM: SFD also has a crew down the slope at one of 45th SW’s dead ends east of Lincoln Park. On this side, the fire’s still smoldering – there’s a tree down on wires right next to a house.
5:18 PM: The downslope SFD crew has left; we went to that area and a City Light crew was just leaving too. SFD is still up at the SW Portland end, though. We also have heard from a few people not far away who are seeing brown water from their taps; could be related to the hydrant usage, but rather than guess, we’re advising people to call SPU at 206-386-1800.
6:41 PM: Thanks to the neighbor who sent this video from earlier:
We went back to the scene a little while ago and SFD said they expected to be leaving soon, though the Real-Time 911 log shows they haven’t closed the call yet. Seattle City Light was still also working in the area, working carefully to be able to deal with the line that went down.
2:59 PM: First significant power outage in West Seattle since the weather got blustery on Friday – more than 150 customers in Gatewood and Upper Fauntleroy, including WSB HQ, per the City Light outage map. More to come.
3:09 PM: The cause isn’t listed yet but the restoration guesstimate is 9 pm – as always, we caution that it can be fixed a lot sooner (like that recent 1 1/2-hour outage) or much later. Meantime, a much-bigger outage has just happened in the White Center/Shorewood/north Burien area – 4,100+ customers:
4:04 PM: SCL blames the White Center-and-beyond fire on a tree. Meanwhile, we’re checking out a brush-fire call in west Gatewood that’s blamed on downed wires – we don’t know if it’s related to the outage but it’s not far. Separate coverage here.
4:23 PM: As noted in comments, the big outage to the south has been resolved, as verified by the SCL map. The outage east of Lincoln Park, not yet.
5:53 PM: New outage as of a little over an hour ago – two pockets on SW Roxbury in the 26th/28th area, and we’re told that is affecting Roxbury Safeway. We’ll be checking there in a bit.
6:46 PM: Roxbury Safeway has some power inside but cold cases are covered and there’s no external lighting. Meantime, the outage in our HQ area, east of and uphill from Lincoln Park, is now listed as 371 customers. Still a 9 pm restoration guesstimate, but no cause – the wires-down fire is likely related.
9:34 PM: Still in the outage zone but we did see a couple City Light trucks a few blocks away while we were on our way back here a short time ago. The restoration guesstimate has been pushed back to ~1:29 am but please remember, it’s not based on anything scientific, as City Light itself will tell you, so it’s just a guess. Some important things to remember:
-It’s cold but in trying to stay warm, you need to follow carbon-monoxide-safety rules.
-Wondering about the safety of food in your refrigerator? Read the FDA advice and guidelines.
2 AM: Our power came back on around 1:30. Now there’s a new 90-customer outage along Walnut.
The photo is from Kari, volunteer service-unit manager, announcing it’s the time of year that fans of Girl Scout Cookies have been waiting for:
Cookies have arrived in West Seattle. Service Unit 550 of West Seattle and Vashon were loading the cookies into the neighborhood cookie cupboard and along came Officer R. Erwin 8368 of the Southwest Precinct, who stopped by to help. Thank you so much!!
This followed the annual cookie-pickup event at the Alaska Marine Lines facilities on West Marginal Way SW. The “cookie booths” – mostly tables outside local businesses – will be up and running March 2nd-18th (you can search here for locations/times/days). But if you’re looking for cookies sooner, Girl Scouts will be selling to family, friends, and neighbors.
Continuing our mentions of upcoming high-school reunions: It’s the 40th reunion this year for the West Seattle High School Class of 1978. Plenty of time to plan – the event is on Saturday, September 15th, at Rainier Golf and Country Club, 5 pm-12:30 am, with music by Pro DJs. $60/person – if you’re not already signed up, contact Denise to get on the list, denisem49 (at) comcast (dot) net – and if you have a reunion to announce, please let us know!
Resurgent snow shower. pic.twitter.com/VCxMAlRa8n
— West Seattle Blog (@westseattleblog) February 18, 2018
(Snow-shower video recorded just after 12:30 pm)
8:26 AM: Thanks for the texts! We’ve heard from Highland Park, The Junction, and Jacobsen Road so far, as very light snow falls around West Seattle – seeing it here in Upper Fauntleroy too. As noted in weather updates earlier in the weekend, forecasters don’t expect much accumulation. But SDOT was out treating roads last night just in case – lots of salt on our hill, which is at 300′. No current alerts for our area; the forecast mentions “scattered snow showers (this) morning.”
9:21 AM: Over for now, and some sunshine has emerged.
12:02 PM: Now another shower – more ice pellet/graupel-like than snowflakes.
12:37 PM: The National Weather Service now thinks the snow showers won’t go past 4 pm.
(Song sparrow, photographed in Lincoln Park by Robin Sinner, shared via WSB Flickr group)
From the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar:
WEST SEATTLE FARMERS’ MARKET: 10 am-2 pm in the street in the heart of The Junction. (California SW between SW Oregon and SW Alaska)
ALKI OYSTER FEST: 11 am-6 pm, oysters, wine, beer, and music at West Seattle Brewing‘s Alki location and nearby Ampersand Café. Proceeds support Puget Sound Restoration Fund. More info in our calendar listing. (Alki SW/58th SW)
JAMTIME: Bluegrass and old-timey music, 1-4 pm at C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor), with Jamtime. (5612 California SW)
‘NEXT TO NORMAL’: First matinée for Twelfth Night Productions’ new play. 3 pm at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center. Tickets available online as well as at the venue before the performance. (4408 Delridge Way SW)
PING-PONG TOURNAMENT: Play ping-pong with the West Seattle Supper Club at Whisky West, 5-9 pm. Prizes! 21+. (6451 California SW)
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