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UPDATE: Falling poles cause big power outage to the south with a few West Seattle pockets

April 5, 2019 4:26 pm
|      21 COMMENTS
 |   Utilities | West Seattle news

4:26 PM: Thanks for the tips. A big power outage that’s mostly to the south has affected a few West Seattle pockets – such as Arrowhead Gardens. Here’s the outage map. City Light says via Twitter that a crash on East Marginal Way is to blame. Updates to come.

4:38 PM: The crash in question is on East Marginal Way in Tukwila [map], according to the Seattle Fire log – while it’s not in city limits, they’ve sent mutual aid. We’ve added a screen grab of much of the outage area (which stretches further into Burien beyond what’s shown – they’ve even closed City Hall early for the day as a result). In the full affected area, more than 16,000 homes and businesses are without power.

5:13 PM: Take note that the outage situation is causing traffic effects in a variety of places. For one, East Marginal is closed south of the South Park Bridge, as Trickycoolj points out in comments – Tukwila Police have tweeted this photo and explained that multiple power poles have been taken out:

We’re currently on Highway 516 westbound just east of Burien, about to exit to northbound 509, and it’s backed up – likely because much of Burien is caught up in the outage. Remember that a dark signal means all-way stop.

5:57 PM: Almost everyone’s back on – all but 300+.

6:16 PM: Back at the original outage site:

TV coverage shows multiple poles fell.

SATURDAY AFTERNOON UPDATE: The road has reopened, according to Tukwila Police, though: “Several intersections will be without power for at least several days. Four-way stop signs are in place.”

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21 Replies to "UPDATE: Falling poles cause big power outage to the south with a few West Seattle pockets"

  • Trickycoolj April 5, 2019 (4:32 pm)

    Multiple power poles down on East Marginal south of the South Park bridge in the Boeing Field area. 

  • Trickycoolj April 5, 2019 (4:47 pm)

    East Marginal is closed south of the South Park bridge. Traffic over the bridge is at a stand still for detour. Avoid South Park bridge if it’s your usual route home. 

    • WSB April 5, 2019 (4:59 pm)

      Thank you.

  • Jim P. April 5, 2019 (5:02 pm)

    I’m up by Westwood and my lights/power flickered enough for my UPS systems to kick in three times.I’ve never lived in an urban area with this many power problems.  (I know taking out power poles is gonna make issues, but overall I used to easily count this sort of thing in incidents per decade, not per year.)

    • wsresident April 5, 2019 (5:18 pm)

      Jim,I agree. I have lived in West Seattle all my life and now I have been in my current home near Arbor Heights for the last ten years. In the last year or so, there has been more power outages than all the other years combined!  

  • waikikigirl April 5, 2019 (5:44 pm)

    Power just came back on in the N Shorewood area!!!

    • WSB April 5, 2019 (5:57 pm)

      All but 300+ customers are back. Whew.

  • Shana Pennington-Baird April 5, 2019 (6:59 pm)

    Thank you for the updates. I know it was south but our borderline West Seattle home was affected. Much appreciated.

  • anonyme April 6, 2019 (7:03 am)

    It seems strange that so many poles would come down with so little wind.

    • J April 6, 2019 (9:10 am)

      Literally domino effect with old poles and tight wires. 

    • M April 6, 2019 (9:15 am)

      Lightning struck one pole and it started it the event. A wind gust helped the other poles toppled when. When north until it got hung up in a street light, I didn’t see what happened south. 

  • Toni Reineke April 6, 2019 (8:36 am)

    Thank you, WSB! Once again, your coverage is superior to that other big news source in town.

  • Doug Tanner April 6, 2019 (4:30 pm)

    If there was no (significant) Weather in the area,  the cause of the fourteen down’ed  power poles (may) have been caused by a “williwaw.”  Just a thought,  after all there is a town near Mount Rainer called “Enumclaw” which means Evil Winds.

  • Gary April 6, 2019 (5:02 pm)

    I was bicycling south on E. Marginal near the Mariners stadium about 3:45 PM.  It started raining super hard, the temperature plummeted and the wind kicked up hard all of a sudden.  (At 3:30 PM it was pretty calm and no rain.)  I’m guessing it was a microburst or a small twister.

    • Doug Tanner April 7, 2019 (3:30 am)

      A microburst has to form within a large thunderstorm and even a small tornado is formed within a mesoscale convective system, i.e., a group of thunderstorms in association with (S.L.I.M.) Shear, Lift, Instability and Moisture.  I don’t live in Washington,  (But) if the power poles were all broken off TO THE WEST relative to the base of each pole,  I would suspect looking up the phenomenon: Williwaw.  And have your local Meteorologists check out the temperatures of the region’s cold air masses above the western side of the Cascades at the time of the event.  A williwaw can happen on a clear day.

  • GARY April 6, 2019 (5:08 pm)

    KIRO has some good photos.  Check this one out…the power pole looks like a broken matchstick.https://www.kiro7.com/news/photos-thousands-without-power-after-car-crashes-into-pole/937526761

  • Blbl April 6, 2019 (8:11 pm)

     Wooden poles should be inspected regularly and replaced when necessary.  Insects and rot can make them decay.  I wonder when these were last inspected 

  • Robert Ely April 6, 2019 (9:46 pm)

    No news since Friday.  What is the real story?

    • WSB April 6, 2019 (9:55 pm)

      No news on what? Nobody’s figured this one out yet but there’ve been plenty of followups, as linked above, from Cliff Mass analyzing weather possibilities, to SCL talking about the poles. We have nothing original to contribute as this is outside our area (though not by much) – we reported on it initially because the outage stretched into a bit of West Seattle in the early going …TR

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