Tonight’s pandemic toplines:

NEWEST KING COUNTY NUMBERS: From the Seattle-King County Public Health daily-summary dashboard, the cumulative totals:

*70,094 people have tested positive, 572 more than yesterday’s total

*1,151 people have died, 3 more than yesterday’s total

*4,494 people have been hospitalized, 6 more than yesterday’s total

*782,443 people have been tested, 2,212 more than yesterday’s total

One week ago, the four totals we track were 65.631/1,117/4,340/763,306.

STATEWIDE NUMBERS: Find them, county by county, on the state Department of Health page,.

WORLDWIDE NUMBERS: See them, nation by nation, here.

VACCINATION UPDATES: This was the main topic of today’s weekly briefing by state health officials. Our state has received 624,000+ doses so far, and has administered about 32 percent of them – 201,660. While that’s not fast enough, they say that statewide the rate is getting up to 15,000-20,000 per day, and that’s encouraging. They hope to expand to Phase 1B within a few days but urge everybody who’s eligible in Phase 1A to hurry and get their shots. One big challenge, said Health Secretary Dr. Umair Shah – they need a more consistent supply funneled by the feds. They’re not only not getting a consistent supply, they’re not getting a long-range projection that will further enable planning.

TRENDS: Also at the briefing – last week’s downward trend in cases has ended and many parts of the state are headed back upward, spiking. The hospitalization rate, however, is not spiking … so far. You can see the entire briefing by going here.

GOT INFO? Email us at westseattleblog@gmail.com or phone us, text or voice, at 206-293-6302 – thank you!

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WEST SEATTLE CRIME WATCH: 2 bicycles stolen; car break-in; police leadership change

January 13, 2021 7:36 pm

| 12 COMMENTS

| Crime | West Seattle news | West Seattle police

Three notes tonight:

TWO BICYCLES STOLEN: From Evan:

I’m reaching out to share an incident that happened sometime between 11:00 pm and 3:30 am at 5640 SW 35th Ave Monday night. The shed in our back yard was broken into and two bikes were stolen.

One is a Fuji Le Club Road bike (silver with red accents and red handlebar tape, older picture below).

The other is a newer Scott Cyclocross bike (dark blue with yellow lettering on the down tube). Doors to the shed were ripped clean off the frame. If you have any information, please text Evan at 617-875-0914.

CAR BREAK-IN: From Samantha and Mark near 49th/Forney:

Someone broke into my car sometime over the last couple of weeks. Unfortunately it’s our second car that we have parked in front of our house and rarely use. The car might have been unlocked, but I noticed it when I went to use it to pick up our child from day care. Nothing of value was taken, but all compartments were rifled thru.

POLICE LEADERSHIP CHANGE: Speaking to the Fauntleroy Community Association board last night, Southwest Precinct Operations Lt. Sina Ebinger announced she’s retiring. So today we asked precinct commander Capt. Kevin Grossman who’ll succeed her as second-in-command. The role will not be filled, he said, explaining that the units Lt. Ebinger oversaw – Community Police Team, Anti-Crime Team, bicycle squad, detectives – “have been eliminated.” (Police Chief Adrian Diaz reorganized the department last year to assign more officers to patrol/911 response.) If Capt. Grossman is out of town or otherwise unavailable, his backup will be new second watch Lt. Dorothy Kim.

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WHAT’S NEXT: King tide, bright forecast

January 13, 2021 6:03 pm

| 1 COMMENT

| Seen at sea | West Seattle news | West Seattle weather

(Alki photo by James Tilley)

The overnight windstorm stole the spotlight from this morning’s “king tide,” but tomorrow’s a rerun – 12.8 feet at 6:40 am. No “coastal flood advisory” alert this time, though, as the weather has calmed down – tomorrow midday is likely to look like this:

(Photo by Troy Sterk)

A mostly sunny Thursday is predicted, high around 50, maybe some light rain tomorrow night, but tonight is expected to stay dry.

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FOLLOWUP: Construction starts soon for 35th/Graham signal and second phase of West Seattle Neighborhood Greenway

January 13, 2021 4:25 pm

| 5 COMMENTS

| Safety | Transportation | West Seattle news

Four and a half years after 35th/Graham was mentioned as the potential site of a new signal, it’s about to become reality. SDOT announced today that work will start this month on Phase 2 of the West Seattle Greenway, including the pedestrian/bicycle signal at 35th/Graham. This phase goes from High Point to The Junction, from SW Graham to SW Edmunds, using 38th SW, SW Findlay, and 42nd SW (as first discussed in 2017). The map shows both phases:

The work at 35th and Graham will start seven years after the second of two deaths there, separated by seven years – pedestrian James St. Clair in December 2013 and bicyclist Susanne Scaringi in September 2007.

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WINDSTORM AFTERMATH: Who has power back, and who doesn’t, as cleanup continues

January 13, 2021 11:18 am

| 41 COMMENTS

| Utilities | West Seattle news | West Seattle weather

(The Brothers, seen from Alki this morning – photo by WSB’s Patrick Sand)

11:18 AM: It’s the near-calm after the storm … but more than 4,500 homes/businesses in West Seattle are still without power after the outages began just before midnight. Here’s a screengrab of the current Seattle City Light map:

South of the big outage in Alki/Admiral/Genesee/North Delridge, most of those markers represent single-digit outages. SCL peaked at 72,000+ customers out and has now halved that, but that still means many hours of work, and as we’ve seen in many other outages, the work can be complicated and take longer, depending on what tree went into what line, affecting what part of the system … etc. Please remember that the estimated restoration times on the SCL map are only guesses – you could get yours back much sooner or much later.

12:54 PM: SCL has provided a detailed update here, including an explanation of how it prioritizes repairs in situations like this. It should also be noted that cable/internet services have been experiencing outages, too – we’ve heard from some customers. Those outages tend to be more hyperlocalized. We did see several Comcast and CenturyLink crews out while we were traveling around the peninsula at midmorning.

1:54 PM: Commenters and texters are telling us the power’s back in most if not all of the large-outage area, after 14 hours. The map should catch up shortly. … Update: About 200 people are still out in scattered outages around WS.

2:24 PM: Still lots of tree-cleanup work to be done, along with the trouble spots we showed earlier. Sarah sent this photo from 39th/Monroe in Gatewood:

And from Aaron, south of Admiral:

Tree trouble led Seattle Parks to tweet this reminder: “Following last night’s windstorm, we encourage all visitors to use caution in our outdoor spaces and please stay out from under trees and avoid forested park areas. To report a downed tree or maintenance issue, contact 206-684-7250.”

6:13 PM: Here’s one of the trees Parks lost – texter just sent this photo of a tree down at Roxhill Park:

6:44 PM: Checking the SCL map again, numerous scattered outages still have almost 500 customers out in West Seattle. Systemwide, nearly 6,000.

8:50 PM: About 300 more people lost power in west Admiral/upper Alki earlier this hour. Though we don’t have any official information beyond the map confirmation, keep in mind that repair work sometimes sparks new outages as crews work on rerouting/reconnection; this is by the scene of the tilting pole and downed wires at 49th/Waite. There’s also a pocket that lost power on the west side of Delridge south of Thistle earlier this evening.

9:20 PM: The Alki/Admiral outage is now at about 500 customers.

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WINDSTORM AFTERMATH: No online classes for Seattle Public Schools today

January 13, 2021 8:22 am

| 15 COMMENTS

| West Seattle news | West Seattle schools | West Seattle weather

8:22 AM: Seattle Public Schools just announced this via Twitter: “Due to a citywide power outage, there won’t be live instruction today, Jan. 13. Please have your student work on independent assignments. Meal sites will remain open.”

11:11 AM: Here’s a district news release addressing what some commenters mentioned – that some educators had already started classes when the “no classes” announcement came out:

– Live remote instruction for Seattle Public Schools students is not occurring today due to storm-related power outages in Seattle.

The outages impacted about 30 percent of SPS staff and families, along with 13 SPS school buildings (where some SPS staff continue to work each day).

Based on the significant impact of the outages, it was determined that district-wide live remote instruction would not be conducted. Some educators had already begun live remote teaching prior to the district’s announcement this morning. Those educators can continue with their live remote teaching. Otherwise, families are asked to direct students to focus on independent assignments.

Meal distribution sites remain open, with the exception of the site at Beacon Hill Elementary School. Meals can be accessed at other SPS meal distribution sites.

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WINDSTORM AFTERMATH: Morning traffic updates, as power outages continue

January 13, 2021 6:39 am

| 43 COMMENTS

| Utilities | West Seattle news | West Seattle traffic alerts | West Seattle weather

6:39 AM: Thousands of people are still without power after the overnight windstorm that hit just before midnight and roared with ~50 mph gusts for hours (here’s our coverage). If you’re headed out this morning, be aware you may encounter streets with downed trees/wires and dark signals. We’ll be tracking those over the next few hours. In West Seattle, most of the 4,400+ without power are in Alki, Admiral, and north of The Junction; even more are out in White Center and points south. The Seattle City Light map shows the areas affected – and also shows that right now, 58,000+ customers throughout its service area are still out, down from 72,000 but still leaving crews with a lot of work ahead. If you encounter a traffic/transit problem, please let us know when you get where you’re going – comment below, or call/text 206-293-6302.

6:56 AM: The East Marginal Way/Ellis problem we reported in overnight coverage continues. Here’s a map; that’s south of the 1st Avenue S. Bridge, but north of the South Park Bridge, so if you were planning to use the latter, heads up. … Most of the trees reported downed overnight were on residential streets, but we do have a report of one this morning on Myers Way just south of West Seattle, near 99th.

7:27 AM: Big Seattle Fire response to the 2200 block of Harbor SW [map] for a reported natural-gas leak. Avoid the area. … Update: Traffic on Harbor is blocked between Florida and Fairmount, while they await Puget Sound Energy.

7:53 AM: Texter reports wires down at 44th/Andover. (Even though some downed lines might be fiber/cable/phone, PLEASE always assume a downed wire is live, and stay away!) Now that it’s light, we’re heading out to check some of the overnight damage locations – we’ll update here but you can also watch the WSB Twitter feed as we go.

8:17 AM: No online classes today for Seattle Public Schools.

8:32 AM: The tree that fell on Marine View Drive at 104th overnight is still blocking the SB lane:

Just passed an SDOT crew doing tree work on southbound 35th SW south of Othello. … Back on Harbor SW, PSE has arrived at the gas leak. Jennifer at West Bay Espresso & Smoothies says it’s their site and the culprit was a mudslide hitting a gas line.

9:08 AM: In Admiral, Waite is blocked east of 49th, near Aegis Living, with a leaning utility pole:

Back in Arbor Heights, Nate reports a tree is blocking 39th at 100th and lines are down on 41st near 100th. And here’s 32nd just south of 106th:

9:45 AM: East of Lincoln Park, two trees are down on 45th SW north of Rose, blocking the NB side.

11:01 AM: Harbor is clear, per a commenter, but the caution tape was left up across the biking/walking path. Meantime, King County Roads says 26th Ave SW between SW 109th St and SW 112th St is closed because of downed trees.

=============

Below, the cameras we usually watch, and a reminder:

LOW-BRIDGE CAMERA ENFORCEMENT: Today is the third day the enforcement cameras on the low bridge are in use, photographing vehicles so that $75 tickets can be sent to owners of unauthorized vehicles crossing between 5 am and 9 pm.

Who’s authorized and who’s not? See our story from Sunday night.

West Marginal Way at Highland Park Way:

Highland Park Way/Holden:

The 5-way intersection (Spokane/West Marginal/Delridge/Chelan):

The main detour route across the Duwamish River, the 1st Avenue South Bridge (map):

The other major bridge across the river – the South Park Bridge (map). Here’s the nearest camera:

To check for bridges’ marine-traffic openings, see the @SDOTBridges Twitter feed.

You can view all local traffic cams here; locally relevant cameras are also shown on this WSB page.? Let us know – text (but not if you’re driving!) 206-293-6302.

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