WEST SEATTLE POWER OUTAGE: 3,000+ customers affected; tree blamed

(Map added 8:57 pm)

8:43 PM: Thanks for the tips – power outage in north West Seattle. A police dispatch indicates a downed tree in the 2300 block of Harbor Ave SW is to blame. More…

8:51 PM: Don’t know the extent of the outage yet – it has yet to appear on the City Light map. So thanks for your comments with location reports.

8:53 PM: Finally appeared on SCL’s map. More than 3,000 homes/businesses.

9:13 PM: Thanks to Paul for that photo of the fallen tree, pre-dusk; Pep posted the one below in a comment, with crews on scene:

Avoid that area for a while as they work to clear the tree and fix the lines. ALSO IMPORTANT: Though City Light has added an “estimated restoration” time of 2:58 am, please remember those times are just guesses and it could be much earlier – more often before the estimated time than after.

9:37 PM: Some if not all are back on, about one hour after the outage began.

9:44 PM: SCL map has updated, showing 333 customers (homes/businesses/buildings) still out, mostly near the tree-down site.

1:02 AM: Map shows those 333 are still out after 4 1/2 hours.

6:34 AM: Commenter Kalo says the power returned around 4:40 am.

60 Replies to "WEST SEATTLE POWER OUTAGE: 3,000+ customers affected; tree blamed"

  • SV August 12, 2019 (8:47 pm)

    Power’s out at 42nd & Ferry. 

    • Hbolt August 12, 2019 (9:14 pm)

      Freaking power just went out in Hudson 26th weird tho only a few houses  got hit with no power. Some still have power?! Th??

  • Mark August 12, 2019 (8:47 pm)

    Power is also out in North Admiral. From Harbor Ave by the water taxi up to California. 

  • Daniel August 12, 2019 (8:48 pm)

    Oh whew.. our power didn’t go out but all the lights and appliances went dim several times.. I thought I had an electrical issue because it kept happening when I turned something on but glad it wasn’t just me 

  • SB August 12, 2019 (8:48 pm)

    Power out at Met Market.  Appear to be closing early. 

  • Tracie Walsh August 12, 2019 (8:50 pm)

    Power is out on alki ave sw (1156)!

  • Casino13ws August 12, 2019 (8:52 pm)

    39th and Lander is out

  • RP August 12, 2019 (8:52 pm)

    No power at 35th and Dakota!

  • Laura August 12, 2019 (8:53 pm)

    Trivia by phone flashlight at Parliament! Come on by!

  • Sue August 12, 2019 (8:53 pm)

    I came here because I knew somebody must have lost power. I’m in Gatewood (California & Mills) and the electricity dimmed very significantly several times.

  • ET August 12, 2019 (8:53 pm)

    wow. we had lights flicker over in sunrise heights. 

  • Sara August 12, 2019 (8:54 pm)

    Our at 33rd and Andover. Our 5 year old is very excited-scared :)

  • Drew August 12, 2019 (8:54 pm)

    Power is out on Avalon near Genesee. Seattle City Light has it on their recorded message at least.

  • Mike August 12, 2019 (8:56 pm)

    Up the hill from T-5.  Still dark on our little street.

  • carolei August 12, 2019 (8:57 pm)

    Power out at 26th & Hudson in north Delridge, but only on one side of the street (26th).

  • AdmiralMon August 12, 2019 (8:57 pm)

    Met market be closin’ early regardless :(

  • JasonG August 12, 2019 (8:58 pm)

    No outage at 36th between Hinds/Manning, but neighbors on 35th are out. Will be interesting to see the outage map. 

  • Pep torres August 12, 2019 (8:58 pm)

    Crews on scene

    • Pep torres August 12, 2019 (9:06 pm)

      Down power lines 

    • WSB August 12, 2019 (9:07 pm)

      Thank you for the photos!

    • Hruska August 12, 2019 (9:11 pm)

      Where is this, Pep?

      • Pep torres August 12, 2019 (9:32 pm)

        A bit north of the entrance of jack block park. Down tree on west side of Harbor Ave 

  • WSB August 12, 2019 (8:59 pm)

    Thanks all – the map’s finally up. Odd pattern for this one!

  • Karen Lansdowne August 12, 2019 (9:04 pm)

    East side of 35th is black, we are between Andover and Charleston.  All of our neighbors across the street have power.

  • Scooterista August 12, 2019 (9:06 pm)

    Safeway at admiral is closed.

  • Kathleen August 12, 2019 (9:06 pm)

    Power out in N. Delridge.

  • ~Hockeywitch~ August 12, 2019 (9:06 pm)

    It flickered at 35th and Morgan for a few mins.

  • West Seattle Mom2 August 12, 2019 (9:09 pm)

    Am I reading the info right from City Light? Estimated Time of Restoration in 3:00am? 

    • WSB August 12, 2019 (9:11 pm)

      I was about to add above …PLEASE remember, in EVERY power outage, the estimated restoration time is just a wild guess. Sometimes it is restored later. More often, much sooner.

      • West Seattle Mom2 August 12, 2019 (9:16 pm)

        Ah, thanks for clarifying. Hoping for much sooner. Either way I’ll be sleeping (I hope)  :)

  • Marie August 12, 2019 (9:13 pm)

     We saw the whole thing. We were biking along Alki and had just turned in to Jack Block Park where we had parked our car. We saw the tree go down, hit a car and then an explosion (power lines I am guessing) then there was another explosion. It looked like fireworks. Pretty jarring, There was a big back up of cars starting as we headed out of the park and a major power outage. 

  • Laura August 12, 2019 (9:14 pm)

    At least now I know why lights kept dimming. Not what I would expect just up from Lowman Beach. Not close at all. 

  • Mj August 12, 2019 (9:14 pm)

    I believe a meteor shower is supposed to happen tonight.  With everything blacked out the viewing should get better.  

  • run_dmc August 12, 2019 (9:33 pm)

    Back on already at 34th and Hinds!  Thanks, SCL!

  • K August 12, 2019 (9:36 pm)

    Power on Harbor Ave 1200 block

  • Casino13ws August 12, 2019 (9:37 pm)

    Back on at 39th and Lander

  • Scooterista August 12, 2019 (9:37 pm)

    Power just came on at Safeway However, we are still closed. No word when we might reopen.

    • WSB August 12, 2019 (9:40 pm)

      Thanks for that update.

  • Ernie August 12, 2019 (9:37 pm)

    Back on in N Admiral!

  • Mj August 12, 2019 (10:05 pm)

    Yup just as I head out with binoculars to check out the sky, Murphy woke up.  Aka the lights came on.

  • Westresident August 12, 2019 (10:05 pm)

    Power is still out on Fairmount. We are always the last ones to get power back on. Lowest on the priority for SCL? 

    • WSB August 12, 2019 (10:12 pm)

      There is no “priority” – it’s a matter in many cases of what’s easily fixable first and then what’s more difficult. If you look at the updated outage map, the remaining 333 customers are closest to the outage location.

    • Maria August 13, 2019 (3:08 pm)

      Main electrical distribution lines need to be re-energized before any neighborhood laterals.  Not all circuits are laterals.   If you are regularly the last ones on it is because you are on are on one of these laterals.  Yes, you will be the last ones on, but not because of priority.   That’s just how the distribution system works.  

  • Brian T. August 12, 2019 (10:10 pm)

    Oh no! I’ve ridden my bike past that Mercedes convertible for a few years now and it was obvious the owner really cared for it. That sucks.

  • Volt August 12, 2019 (10:10 pm)

    Nucor going full throttle now 🤮

  • Scooterista August 12, 2019 (10:13 pm)

    Safeway at Admiral is open!

  • M August 12, 2019 (10:37 pm)

    I am glad that tree didn’t fall last week as I parked my car there during the Blue Angels show.  My light in my computer room flickered several times like a slow dim.  I thought the lightbulb was going out.

  • John August 12, 2019 (11:59 pm)

    I wonder how many of these tree  incidents: power outages,  vehicles destroyed and people maimed or killed , could be avoided if the  City of Seattle addressed its tree maintenance backlog? If trees are the valuable resource  the city proclaims them to be, then trees should receive needed care. 

    • dftl August 13, 2019 (5:37 pm)

      Trees on private property are the responsibility of the property owner.

      • waikikigirl August 13, 2019 (7:30 pm)

        Unless it was cause by an act of nature I do believe but I could be wrong?

  • Dana August 13, 2019 (1:19 am)

    This is a joke! 7 hour outage!? Someone should be held responsible for this. If you have trees near power lines, you should be required to hire an arborist to trim those trees and if it leads to an outage because you don’t, you (the property owner) should be fined. I bought a few hundred dollars worth of seafood at Costco that’s spoiled now. They call these branches “widow makers” for a reason because they’re likely to fall and kill someone. Be a responsible property owner. This is the second time in 6 months this has happened in this same general vicinity. Just a waste of taxpayers money.

    • Morten August 13, 2019 (1:47 am)

      A tree fell down and over the electricity lines. 

    • chemist August 13, 2019 (12:19 pm)

      Most freezers and refrigerators will maintain safe temps for a pretty long time, with the duration depending on if they have at-temp items inside them helping to maintain cold.  I would think seafood would be fine for 7 hrs provided it was inside an already-cold refrigerator.

      • newnative August 13, 2019 (1:54 pm)

        Not to mention that Dana posted that well before the 7 hour mark. Their seafood likely wasn’t spoiled yet. I wonder about people who post that type of complaint.

        • WSB August 13, 2019 (2:08 pm)

          I believe Dana was referring to the estimated restoration time which, at 3:30ish am, would have represented a 7-hour outage. (And for 333 customers, it turned out to be 8 hours.)

  • Kalo August 13, 2019 (4:43 am)

    4:40am, powers back on on Harbor Ave!

  • Rick August 13, 2019 (9:54 am)

    Ouch on what looked like a nice car.

  • Monica Riva August 13, 2019 (11:10 am)

    Isn’t this the same exact spot where the trees fell down in December, and caused a power outage that lasted about 22 hours? 

  • momosmon August 13, 2019 (11:50 am)

    Correct me if I’m wrong (and I know someone will) but isn’t most of that area/hillside saturated in water runoff almost all year long and could that be the cause of the downed tree and was that tree really the homeowners responsibility? Looks like City property???

  • big bling August 15, 2019 (1:53 pm)

    is the firewood that’s left on the ground open to all for the taking?

Sorry, comment time is over.