POWER OUTAGE UPDATES: 370+ customers in Gatewood, Upper Fauntleroy; 4,100+ restored in Shorewood, WC; new outage along part of Roxbury

| Fauntleroy | Gatewood | Utilities | West Seattle news

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.

wseakell February 18, 2018 (3:03 pm)

Also just went out near White Center/North Shorewood (we’re by 107th & 19th Ave SW). Reported to SCL.

WSB February 18, 2018 (3:12 pm)

Thanks! Someone mentioned that on Twitter too.

skweerl February 18, 2018 (3:06 pm)

Power out at 42nd & Thistle !

Kera February 18, 2018 (3:11 pm)

We just got home and no power here in upper Fauntleroy by Lincoln park

pdxmark77 February 18, 2018 (3:24 pm)

The lights flickered on and off a few times and stayed dark. Here in Shorewood at around 109th and 28th av. We also have some small tree branches down as well

Ed February 18, 2018 (3:27 pm)

We heard a loud bang about forty minutes ago. We live two blocks from 35th Ave SW and SW Holden. Any ideas as to what this may have been?

pdxmark77 February 18, 2018 (3:31 pm)

Probably a transformer blowing up, those things are loud.
- Kersti Muul February 19, 2018 (9:18 am)
  
  You are hearing fuses, not Xformers, as those rarely blow

OriginalMB February 18, 2018 (3:44 pm)

Someone on our neighborhood page posted that a power pole on 28th near Holden was falling over and that a tree was on fire.

WSB February 18, 2018 (4:02 pm)

There’s a fire call for downed wires in the 7300 block of 28th SW. We’ll head over there after we check out the other side of this slope fire.

Traci February 18, 2018 (3:52 pm)

There’s a fire on Kenyon st and 44th ave and heard its from a broken live wire I ope it doesn’t come near our house. Its from one house over from us.

WSB February 18, 2018 (4:00 pm)

Yes, we’ve published a separate item about that after finally finding the fire crew – they told us it was out or close to out – there’s now a crew also downslope and we’re going to go check out that side.

Cathy February 18, 2018 (4:13 pm)

has anyone’s water turned brown?!

WSB February 18, 2018 (4:35 pm)

Are you near the Gatewood/east-of-Lincoln Park fire area? Hydrant use can do that. You can also report to Seattle Public Utilities at 206-386-1800 -just in case it’s something else.

pdxmark77 February 18, 2018 (4:13 pm)

Our power came back on in Shorewood at 4:10pm. near 28th av and 109th

WSB February 18, 2018 (4:17 pm)

Thank you for the update!

Sal February 18, 2018 (7:34 pm)

Would the live wire fire cause a transformer up

the street to blow? Because I heard a loud boom at 2:40ish when the power went off at Kenyon & 39th.

Wongul Wzuly February 18, 2018 (8:31 pm)

Any other Comcast failures/interruptions? TV and internets down at just before 6pm…32nd & 98th, Rox Heights. Power held all day so I am not complaining, but no human response at comHorriblecast, and my account showing no current area service interruptions, and more specifically showing me connected and able…it’s a lie!!!

Mmat February 18, 2018 (9:12 pm)

Just saw that they dispatched a crew. Says power will be restored around 1:30am on Seattle City light website.

WSB February 18, 2018 (9:29 pm)

The restoration time is just an estimate – could be sooner, could be later. The restoration estimate was 9 pm for hours and of course now we’re past that. But coming back up here to HQ, which remains in the outage zone, we did see two City Light trucks, so I’m hopeful they are getting a handle on it ….

R. Jackson February 18, 2018 (9:28 pm)

Power still out north end of Lincoln Park. City Light says they are still “investigating” and have arbitrarily said new power restoration estimate is now 11 pm. Not sure how they can estimate if they are still investigating. So gosh who in the heck knows when we’ll see the power come back on.

R. Jackson February 18, 2018 (10:37 pm)

Maybe it’s just me, but this was not a very significant storm as storms go (not even an advisory issues by NWS) .. but one that would have flagged City Light that there could be problems. So how can it be that a small pocket of homes (near Lincoln Park) be without power for nearly 8+ hours and counting in an urban area?

WSB February 18, 2018 (10:52 pm)

Thousands of people have been out around the city and as City Light itself tweeted, as some were restored, more were knocked out. I am fairly sure that the wire situation on the hillside – the earlier fire – is to blame or related, and it was described to us, albeit briefly, as complicated. Sometimes it’s easy to route around a downed line or other broken/failed equipment, sometimes it’s not. There are still 54 separate outages around the SCL area right now. I don’t recall one this long for us since the 2006 windstorm, but maybe I’m selectively remembering. Personally, I’m still mystified as to why no wind advisory followed the one that expired last night. I don’t know what alert level SCL was at but we were not at any alert level ourselves at all for tree-toppling, power-cutting wind! Just the mild morning snow watch. And it STILL sounds brutally windy out there … – TR

R. Jackson February 18, 2018 (11:11 pm)

I agree. This was not just a gusty wind situation. I am puzzled as to why there was no NWS advisory issued. This same scenario happened a couple of years ago. West Seattle gets hammered but no advisory, no warning. Strange. Meantime, still waiting for City Light to respond.

Lee Buxton February 19, 2018 (7:30 am)

Our neighbor’s power is still out-they sit between gatewood and glenridge- and though reported doesn’t appear on the outage map? –I am curious about the lack of Wind advisory too–it is still blowing-not as bad and it is 730 am! LB.