8:44 PM: Though it still isn’t showing up on the Seattle City Light map, we’ve heard from several people about an outage in Gatewood. We’re told it started more than an hour ago. (One location mentioned: 4000 block of SW Webster.) No indication of the cause, though of course it’s been a day and night of feisty weather. So for now, we’re just noting it for the record. Side note: Checking on this, we discovered the City Light outage map has undergone something of an overhaul sometime in the past week or so – mostly some visual changes to the same basic info it’s long offered.

8:56 PM: Via Twitter, one person affected says crews were out working on “a blown transformer” and that they hoped to have power restored in four to six hours.

2:42 AM: Thanks for the tips. Still awaiting the full extent of an outage that appears to be centered in the Fauntleroy area. We don’t know the cause yet, but police were just dispatched to check out an Upper Fauntleroy resident’s report of flashes at about that time. Another dispatch says it’s a possible problem around 45th/Wildwood. Updates to come.

2:47 AM: Almost 5,000 customers per update on City Light‘s map. A member of our Upper Fauntleroy household with a west-facing window also reports seeing the flashes (we didn’t lose power, though). Added a screengrab from the outage map – broadly described, this is mostly west of 35th SW, from Seaview south to Brace Point.

3:05 AM: Now our standard reminder that City Light’s “estimated time of restoration” is always just a guesstimate and often changes, so don’t take much stock in it. No further info so far. The map suggests some signalized intersections, like California/Morgan, are affected; if you have to go out, remember that if a signal’s out, that means the intersection is a four-way stop.

3:32 AM: One hour now since the outage started. SCL has tweeted an important reminder, especially considering many refrigerators are full of holiday food: Don’t open your fridge/freezer.

4:32 AM: Two hours now. Nothing new to report.

5:59 AM: Some commenters report restoration moments ago. … The map says 3,100+ are still out.

6:59 AM: All but 364 customers now have power back.

City Light spokesperson Jenn Strang tells WSB, “Most customers except for a small pocket around the immediate vicinity will be restored momentarily. A larger crew will be coming to make further repairs this morning. As of right now, we only know that this is a result of a wire coming down but we don’t have the exact cause. We hope to know more later.”

10:24 AM: After almost eight hours, those last 300+ customers are still out. A reader texted this photo of where the SCL crew is working:

That’s near Wildwood Market.

11:47 AM: The crews are still on scene, Meantime, the outage map has updated to attribute this to “bird/animal contact,” and a commenter says it appears to have been a Great Blue Heron.

12 PM: SCL’s Strang says crews did find that bird in the outage area. Meantime, for anyone still out, she says it shouldn’t be too much longer.

12:10 PM: And SCL says everybody’s back on.

3:32 PM: Thanks for the tip. 14 Seattle City Light customers near 57th/Alki have been out of power for going on an hour now. The outage map does not yet indicate a cause; we’re asking SCL.

5:04 PM: No reply from SCL yet but the map now attributes the outage to “equipment failure.”

(WSB file photo)

Planning to go outside this no-rain-expected weekend and clear away some leaves (or catch up on other yard work)? Here’s the annual reminder – November is “free extra yard waste” month for city curbside-pickup customers. Each collection day through the end of the month, Seattle Public Utilities says, you can set out up to 10 extra bags/containers of yard waste.

1:09 PM: Power’s out for what appears to be a wide stretch – signals out along California as we drove north.

1:20 PM UPDATE: 10,000 customers (mostly) from the Junction north. No word yet on the cause.

1:35 PM: This hit just as we were heading out on an interview – the signal lights started going out all along California, from The Junction northward. Have made our way back now. Remember that any non-functioning signalized intersection is a four-way stop. Also note that if you’re hearing sirens – when the power goes out, some automatic fire alarms are triggered, and some elevators get stuck, and Seattle Fire crews have to respond to all of that.

1:47 PM: Note that schools and businesses are part of this sizable outage zone. … As you can see on the SCL map, the outage zone stretches some blocks south of The Junction in spots.

2:05 PM: This happened amid strong north winds, though we don’t have official word of a cause. As a result of the wind, the West Seattle Water Taxi‘s pm sailings have just been canceled.

2:09 PM: As noted in comments, a tree limb falling in North Admiral appears to be the problem.

2:19 PM: SCL spokesperson Jenn Strang confirms that’s the cause and tells WSB, “Crews are starting to work on the problem and we’ll start restoring customers as soon as we can.”

(Reader photo, from comments)

2:29 PM: We just talked to SCL crew at the scene. They say the fallen tree limb has been removed and now they’re doing some final work before determining how soon it’ll be safe to “re-energize.”

2:39 PM: Commenters are reporting getting power back, and the map shows more than half the originally affected 10,000+ customers (homes/businesses/schools etc. each count as one customer) are back on after an hour and a half.

3:09 PM: Now down to 2,637 customers still out.

4:20 PM: No change.

4:34 PM: Going back through The Junction, it appears the businesses on the west side of California are still without power, while those on the east side have it.

5:33 PM: Heading back south – west side of Junction still out. That includes ballot drop box area – no streetlights or lot lights – lots of foot and vehicle traffic – be careful!

5:40 PM: Power just returned to the west side of The Junction. … Map shows 108 still out.

8:58 PM: More than three hours later, that pocket of 108, mostly wrapped around the southwest corner of Camp Long, is still out.

1:08 AM: Down to 58 now, and attributed to “equipment failure” for this pocket:

2:52 AM: The map now shows everyone restored since our last check.

Thanks to Lacey for the tip. More than three dozen customers are mapped as out of water at the moment, mostly along 18th SW just east of Holy Family Church/School. The outage is attributed to “emergency repairs.” Lacey says Seattle Public Utilities reported that crews are fixing a broken water main. Sometimes this kind of work can affect water service beyond the immediate outage zone, so if you’re anywhere near there and experiencing water problems, that could be the cause – but let 206-386-1800 know, just to be sure. (Update: SPU says this was fixed as of 3:10 pm.)

6:40 PM: We haven’t heard yet from anyone who’s completely lost power, but many report flickers around the peninsula – from here in Upper Fauntleroy (multiple times over the span of a few minutes) to Puget Ridge. We’re monitoring …

7 PM: By now it seems safe to say that the flickering did NOT indicate a larger outage somewhere; the Seattle City Light map shows only a pocket of five customers along Myers Way in the unincorporated area.

On Friday and Sunday, we noted reader reports of brown water, mostly in – but not limited to – the Junction vicinity. The people we heard from didn’t get a clear explanation from Seattle Public Utilities, and no water break ever turned up on the SPU map. Today we checked back with SPU spokesperson Sabrina Register, and here’s what she has found out: “We believe it was the result of one of our water system pump stations being operated after a two month period being out of service for related construction work. We have taken the pump station offline while we develop a plan to restart it that will minimize water system disturbance and customers experiencing discolored water.” The “disturbance” usually refers to sediment – mostly rust from unlined cast-iron pipes – getting stirred up in the water pipes by unusual activity, from hydrant testing to water-main breaks. Back in the mid-2010s, brown water was happening so often that SPU did a large-scale “flush” in West Seattle. What’s important is to report discolored water when it happens – 206-386-1800 – so it’s on record with SPU (and let us know too because that way there’s a very public record). In the meantime, here’s the SPU advice on what to do in hopes it’ll clear your water. Discolored water is not necessarily a health risk but it can also discolor your laundry, for example.

Two days after reports of brown water in The Junction and Alki, it’s back, according to staff at Uptown Espresso (California/Edmunds), who say they’re closing early as a result and have heard of other businesses experiencing the problem. They’re on hold with Seattle Public Utilities at 206-386-1800 trying to report the problem. We have yet to get details from SPU on what exactly the problem was – one resident on Friday reported being told it was a break, but none ever appeared on the SPU water-outage map, and commenters said they were told it was related to “construction.”

ADDED: Carrie sent this photo of what turned up in her water:

We’ll be following up again with SPU on Monday.

Just received two reports of discolored water today in West Seattle – one in Alki, one in The Junction. The person who texted the latter report said they had reported it to Seattle Public Utilities, which has just told them a water-main break is to blame – it’s not shown on the map yet, so we’re following up. If you are experiencing the problem, now or any other time, the SPU number to call is 206-386-1800 – that can help them figure out what’s happening and where. Here’s the general SPU advice about discolored water.

(Early site plan)

We first reported back in March that a former Seattle City Light substation site in Morgan Junction was under consideration as a future electric-vehicle-charging site. SCL says the plan is now finalized and the first phase of work at the site is expected to start this weekend. The site is at 4118 SW Morgan, 4,520 square feet of land taken out of substation service back in 2014. Contaminated soil has to be removed from the site, and in order to do that, SCL says it has to remove trees and other vegetation, which is the work that’ll be done first. It’s explained in this letter sent to nearby residents/businesses. SCL spokesperson Jenn Strang says the trees will be replaced “two for one” as per city policy. Other landscaping will be done, she said, with a “pollinator aesthetic.” The charging site is planned for eight “fast chargers,” so up to eight vehicles could use it simultaneously (and they’ll be paying to use it). But even though the site prep is being done now, according to Strang, actual construction of the charging station isn’t expected before the middle of next year. The site will be fenced in the interim. You can read more about the project here; that page also has contact info if you have questions, and Strang says SCL will have a rep at next month’s Morgan Community Association meeting (October 19th) to talk about it.

On Sunday we reported on a power outage that left 74 customers out of power for about eight hours in North Admiral. Today, we talked with Seattle City Light‘s Jenn Strang about what happened. Strang says it took longer to fix because the crew first had to sleuth what had gone wrong, and while the original suspicion was a “bad fuse,” it turned out to be a “failed underground elbow.” (An elbow is a type of onnector.) She added that underground problems are often tougher to trace than others.

12:18 PM: Thanks for the tip. 74 customers have been without power since about 9 am in a residential North Admiral neighborhood. The Seattle City Light map doesn’t yet show the cause but the resident who tipped us says they heard what sounded like a transformer (or other equipment) explosion right before they lost power.

5:22 PM: Just got a text that the power’s been restored. Map never did indicate a cause, so we’ll follow up with SCL tomorrow.

1:40 AM: Seattle City Light map shows 4,600+ customers out of power in West Seattle. Possibly a driver vs. pole crash in west Admiral, per emergency radio. Updates to come.

1:50 AM: The crash is at 47th/Admiral. Police have just told dispatch they’re blocking Admiral both ways. They’re summoning City Light. … “The pole’s been completely disconnected. Wires everywhere,” officers radioed.

2:20 AM: Update on the closure zone, Admiral between 46th and 48th. Too soon to know how long it’ll take to restore power – the estimate that appears on the SCL map is always little more than a guess.

2:32 AM: Officers at the crash scene just told dispatch that SCL is there.

2:46 AM: Thanks to the commenters who provided photos of the scene. The one above is from SusanLP.

3:17 AM: As noted in comments, some have had power restored.

The SCL map shows 1,600+ still out – just about a third of the original number.

7:10 AM: 325 still without power.

9:27 AM: Those 325 are still out. City Light crews continue working at the scene.

(Thanks to Charlene for the photo)

9:48 AM: Police confirm to WSB that the driver who hit the pole was booked for investigation of DUI.

10:35 AM: Intersection’s still closed, with SCL still on scene.

1:26 PM: SCL reports everyone has their power back now. We’re headed over to check whether the intersection has reopened.

2 PM: It’s open.