UPDATE: Widespread, brief power outage in West Seattle

10:26 PM: Getting reports of a short power outage in multiple areas – have heard from Admiral, Upper (and lower) Alki, Snake Hill, Seaview, Hansen View, Junction, Beach Drive, Gatewood, Genesee Hill, Morgan Junction (still adding) …, Did your power go out and stay out? Let us know – otherwise we don’t yet know what caused this.

10:39 PM: Still nothing on the City Light map so apparently no one went out and stayed out. No obvious incidents on the 911 map, either. When something similar happened two years ago, it was eventually attributed to equipment failure.

P.S. We’ll be following up with City Light and will update with the cause (likely not until tomorrow).

ADDED FRIDAY AFTERNOON: SCL spokesperson Julie Moore tells WSB, “We were doing some work that caused a momentary (two-second) trip of a breaker.”

36 Replies to "UPDATE: Widespread, brief power outage in West Seattle"

  • Admiraldon January 30, 2020 (10:28 pm)

    Power went out for a few seconds in north admiral. Cable went out briefly as well.  All good now

  • Ann January 30, 2020 (10:28 pm)

    Power went off completely for about 10 seconds in N Admiral then came right back. 

  • Danny January 30, 2020 (10:29 pm)

    Happened to us for 2 secs. We’re at Juneau at 40th Ave SW.

  • JT January 30, 2020 (10:29 pm)

    Seaview, Admiral, Alki, High Point, Gatewood were all affected. 

  • Angela Nickerson January 30, 2020 (10:29 pm)

    Our power went out for literally 10 seconds at about 10:19p. We live in the Seaview neighborhood at 50th Ave SW and Graham St 

  • Joe January 30, 2020 (10:29 pm)

    Yes. We experienced this. Very short but all back to normal. Right in the WS Junction.

  • KA January 30, 2020 (10:29 pm)

    Heard a pop, then a brief outage in the Hansen View area. Back to normal almost immediately.

  • Pelicans January 30, 2020 (10:29 pm)

    Brief blink-out on north Beach Drive, then back on. 

    • Pelicans January 31, 2020 (3:12 am)

      Bravo, and a hearty thanks to SCL for whatever systems/equipment/security safeguards prevented a widespread power outage on the WS peninsula.    Possible causes: Pesky NK’s, n-CoV, sunspots, colliding satellites crashing into the atmosphere, UFO’s, Peak Kardashian/Jenner. Pick one…

  • Shawn January 30, 2020 (10:30 pm)

    Very brief outage on 35th near Camp Long.  Stop lights were affected and began flashing, but recovered quickly.

  • Thomas Plaster January 30, 2020 (10:30 pm)

    Yep- felt like a surge then all out in North Admiral. Reset clocks and computer….

  • KrazzieK January 30, 2020 (10:32 pm)

    SW Oregon St & Glenn Way SW out for a short period of time at 10:21pm – back on 

  • Ruth January 30, 2020 (10:32 pm)

    Ours went out briefly just West of the Junction.

  • Aaron January 30, 2020 (10:32 pm)

    Lower Alki as well

  • Admiral mom January 30, 2020 (10:33 pm)

    We lost powers for a few seconds.  We are at Admiral and California. Then heard sirens. Not sure if they are related. 

  • Mo January 30, 2020 (10:33 pm)

    My power went out for a few seconds. I heard a loud pop just as the power went out. I’m on Genesee hill.

  • GWS January 30, 2020 (10:34 pm)

    Went dark on Charlestown Hill for about 15 sec.  time to reset the clocks

  • gay Gabrilska January 30, 2020 (10:35 pm)

    I just popped on the new Lizzo album.  Then boom…it was like somebody flipped the switch on the West Seattle grid.#Lizzo4Lyfe

    • Betsy Ford January 30, 2020 (11:00 pm)

      I must’ve been because of Lizzo, girl is electric!

  • Edgars January 30, 2020 (10:36 pm)

    Power blinked out for me as well, just off of  California and Raymond

  • Olivist January 30, 2020 (10:36 pm)

    Genesee hill too. Lasted maybe 5 seconds. 

  • Upper Alki Resident January 30, 2020 (10:36 pm)

    Lost power for a second or two. Near Schmitz Park.
    Never heard of Snake Hill or Hansen View.

  • wssz January 30, 2020 (10:38 pm)

    Power went completely out at 49th and Edmunds for 10 seconds.

  • SuperAwesome January 30, 2020 (10:40 pm)

    Yep, power out about 10 seconds in lower Alki. Took a bit for our cable/internet to come back.

  • Admiral January 30, 2020 (10:48 pm)

    Went out for a few seconds in Admiral.

  • alaska junction area January 30, 2020 (11:09 pm)

    power out for only 5 sec.  I did not find anything either on the city light map, or this blog when I first checked, so thanks for info !

  • SSS January 30, 2020 (11:13 pm)

    We heard a transformer blow about 9 pm. We are by camp long. Then a while later lost complete power for a second. 

  • Tom Loomis January 30, 2020 (11:15 pm)

    Around 10:28 pm (I didn’t note the time, sorry all) we had a brief outage (maybe 1/2 second) 44th Ave between Hill and Holgate. So brief that not all the clocks needed resetting, only some of them.

  • Julia January 30, 2020 (11:57 pm)

    I’ve lived in West Seattle 60 years — never heard of Snake Hill or Hansen View. BTW, power all okay in Fauntleroy.

    • WSB January 31, 2020 (12:40 am)

      Hansen View is south of The Mount. Snake Hill is the hill from North Delridge up to High Point. A quick archives search shows 33 mentions of the former, 14 of the latter, fwiw.

    • Anne January 31, 2020 (9:07 am)

      Julia-lived here for 70 years -& often don’t recognize these neighborhood names either. Out of curiosity I googled “Snake Hill West Seattle”  then clicked on Delridge Wikipedia-really pretty interesting to see the many neighborhoods listed & what they’re called. 

  • Lolo January 31, 2020 (7:58 am)

    50th & Alaska about 10 or 10:15 according to my son.  I woke up as the TV was making a funny noise.  I did not note the time but just turned it off.  I thought it was about midnight or so.  Heard the wind blowing. Julia, I have never heard of Snake Hill or Hansen View either in my 57 years of living here. 

  • Mike January 31, 2020 (2:34 pm)

    Admiral area:  I went out looking for food shortly after the brief power outage.   I stopped at Jack-In-The-Box, but found they were closed with a crew doing electrical work, which included pulling large diameter wire which was visible from the truck & back door on the west side.  Cable this large is normally used only from the meter drop to the main breakers or possibly for wiring to a sub-panel.  Maybe they momentarily dropped a short across the input side of the breaker sufficient to cause a reset-able breaker in the power grid to cycle off & then back on.  

  • Rashmi February 1, 2020 (12:54 am)

    Power outage from 12.30 am near Westwood village. 

  • Susan February 1, 2020 (1:31 am)

    The entire neighborhood is out from Cloverdale past Thistle and as far as you can see on Delridge headed North

  • Buzz February 16, 2020 (11:23 pm)

    Did they elaborate what work they were doing to cause the brief outage? Initially, I was thinking it was our breaker. I’m wondering if there are any details because I’ve been hearing a high pitch, dull persistent electrical humming sound (mostly back of the house). Some nights more mild other nights almost mimics ear ringing. My husband has heard this noise before outside from our neighbors home too, suspecting possibly their smart electric meter. However, if they’re doing any type of electric work would be helpful to know if the electric humming I’m hearing lately relates to this. We’re on 47th and Admiral way.

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