West Seattle, Washington
25 Thursday
(LATEST TOPLINES, 4:32 PM: City Light’s system-status page and WSB commenters indicate just about everyone has their power back, after a 2,000+-home/business outage caused by a car smashing into a pole at 47th/Charlestown at 5:30 this morning.)
(7:06 am – replaced original cameraphone photo with video)
ORIGINAL 5:41 AM REPORT: Getting a few outage reports – not surprising since our power here in Upper Fauntleroy flickered twice a few minutes ago, and flickers in one place often portend an outage elsewhere. Via Facebook, Kate says “a transformer blew” near her home at 46th/Charlestown. And Jennifer says her power came back fast but she’s seeing folks out to the south of her area (which is 4800 block Fauntleroy). Plus, Lisa says power’s out around Jefferson Square. This is NOT on the Seattle City Light “system status” page yet. More to come.
5:49 AM UPDATE: New information – This is because of a crash. Power lines are down because of a car crash at Charlestown and 47th. Listening to scanner traffic now. “Two critical patients” according to scanner, and they are not yet out of the vehicle.
5:59 AM UPDATE: The two patients are now out of the vehicle and being taken to Harborview. “High-speed car vs telephone pole” crash with the victims described as a man and woman, both 25, according to the scanner.
6:16 AM UPDATE: We just got to the scene. It’s at the bottom of the mega-steep hill on Charlestown, west of 46th (here’s a map; the road is closed at the top). As for the power – most of the businesses and streetlights on the west side of The Junction between Edmunds and Oregon are out (with a few exceptions), plus the California/Alaska lights. Then the power’s back north of there. So, a spotty outage. City Light arrived at the scene here just ahead of us. The car is badly mangled – police say it “was” a Buick.
7:06 AM UPDATE: Came back to HQ to add video – the lighting at the scene is not optimal; we will go back once the sun’s up. No word on the victims’ conditions. Seattle City Light is working on the power lines at the scene; its “outage tracker” says more than 2,000 homes/businesses have lost power – our comments and e-mail/notes suggest it’s a hopscotch pattern, various spots from North Admiral south to Fairmount Springs. (You can see that on the outage tracker, too.)
7:31 AM UPDATE: City Light has finally published its own update, though it does not mention the crash, or the non-contingent nature of the outage zones. It does mention “additional momentary outages will be required as the problem is repaired.”
8:03 AM UPDATE: California/Alaska stoplight in The Junction is still out. And City Light now says some may not get their power back for “six to eight hours.” The crash scene will be closed a while, since the Traffic Collision Investigation Squad – which is called to major scenes – is at work there:
The pole hit by the car is still at a sharp angle. City Light says some may be without power for up to 6 to 8 more hours.
8:47 AM UPDATE: That’s the aforementioned pole. We’ve received calls, comments, and notes in the past 10 minutes or so indicating some have gotten their power back – The Junction, for example – while, as SCL warned, some have lost it (North Admiral). We saw SCL trucks in The Junction while passing through en route back from revisiting the scene, and a Facebook commenter reports seeing crews there too. We also have a report of a Comcast outage, though we don’t know whether it’s related.
11:40 AM UPDATE: Police have published an item about the crash on SPDBlotter, describing both victims as having “life-threatening injuries,” and saying their Buick sedan was heading westbound down the steep hill just before it hit the pole. About 100 homes/businesses are still without power, according to City Light’s “outage tracker“; their Power Lines site’s latest update says that’s needed while the pole – cut off at the base, per police – is replaced.
4:33 PM UPDATE: Looks like just about everyone’s back on, judging by both comments and the City Light system-status page. We were at 47th/Charlestown about an hour ago and watched crews in the final stages of replacing the pole taken out by this morning’s crash.
(Photo by Deanie Schwarz, added 5:04 pm – the 1721 SW Roxbury pole)
Seattle City Light has published another update today about its ongoing systemwide streetlight inspections in the wake of “contact voltage” that killed a Queen Anne dog and spooked one in High Point. On Monday, three more West Seattle discoveries were listed; today, SCL announced five more spots were found in our area. From their online update:
Locations where the latest contact voltage was discovered were:
* 1721 SW Roxbury Street [map], 111 volts, a faulty ballast assembly was replaced …
* SW Avalon Way and 35th Avenue SW [map], 104 volts, bad wiring was repaired
* SW Holly Street and 31st Avenue SW [map], 107 volts, a faulty lamp head was replaced
* 4115 SW Arroyo Drive [map], 84 volts, a faulty ballast assembly was replaced
* SW Arroyo Drive and 39th Avenue SW [map], 98 volts, power was disconnected, repairs pending
City Light’s update also says that West Seattle testing has been completed. Their contractors have made it to 37 percent of the city’s streetlights so far.
Two companies hired by Seattle City Light are continuing citywide testing for potentially dangerous electrical current, ever since a dog was electrocuted on Queen Anne, and another dog’s behavior helped authorities find an “energized” pole in High Point (as reported December 8th). City Light has been publishing frequent updates on its Power Lines website, and tonight’s update brings word of three spots detected in West Seattle:
# a streetlight pole and utility hole cover near 56th Avenue SW and SW Bradford Street [map] with 103 volts. A crew repaired a connector that was touching the pole and energizing it.
# a water cap near Fauntleroy Way SW and SW Edmunds Street [map] with 97 volts. Power was cut off and crews are determining the cause to begin work on a repair.
# a utility hole cover near Marine View Drive SW and 42nd Avenue SW [map] with 84 volts. Power was cut off and crews are determining the cause to begin work on a repair.
In all, the city says it has found 12 cases of “contact voltage” around the city so far, including these three and the one in High Point, and has tested 18 percent of streetlights and “associated facilities.”
Just out of the WSB inbox, Seattle City Light‘s announcement that its program for recycling old refrigerators – not only free pickup, but also a rebate – is back. Details ahead:Read More
Seattle City Light just sent a late-night news release with an update on streetlight inspections following last week’s discovery of “contact voltage” by a light in High Point (reported by HP’s Wendy Hughes-Jelen after her dog and another one behaved oddly around it, and following the Thanksgiving contact-voltage electrocution of a dog): 270 more poles were checked in High Point and Greenbridge (a similar development in White Center), and no further cases of contact voltage turned up, according to the news release. But three cases were found in neighborhoods east of downtown. SCL says it’s figuring out whether it can speed up the citywide inspections that were to be done by May.
(This was our morning report; go here for ongoing afternoon coverage – thanks!)
(Photo added 7:54 am – power out at Admiral/California intersection, businesses too, but City Light went by)
6:52 AM: If you wake up and notice your clocks are out of synch with battery-powered sources like your cell phone or watch – part of north West Seattle lost power in the early-morning hours. Roughly 3-4 am, judging by the smattering of notes we received. Some may still be out (let us know if you are) – complete information isn’t available because the city website is down, but Seattle City Light’s Twitter account reported about an hour ago that 838 West Seattle customers were still out of service at that time, and has not updated since. Meantime, might still be a good time to check on battery/charging status of key devices – it’s not only still pouring, but at least where we are, the wind has picked up in a big way.
7:12 AM UPDATE: Some confirmations in comments and via Facebook that some people are still without power in Admiral. The biggest outage, described by SCL on FB as 2,800 homes/businesses in Alki/Harbor Avenue, started at 2:20 am; at least one of those customers reported the power returning around 4. We’re heading out now to survey both power and road flooding – especially perennial deep-water trouble spots like West Marginal Way/Highland Park Way, where some problems were reported in the very early morning hours. The National Weather Service is warning of slide danger as well as urban/”small stream” flooding.
7:50 AM: First major intersection where the power’s still out: Admiral/California. Looks like the businesses on all four corners, too, as well as the stoplights. (a few minutes later) The outage is centered here JUST around the Admiral/California junction – the Lander stoplight is on (at Lafayette/Hiawatha); heading eastbound, while the west side of 42nd is out, the east side (with Metropolitan Market [WSB sponsor] and Safeway gas station is ON). Jack in the Box has NO power, same for businesses in the Linda’s/Bird/Heavenly/Alki B&B building and the CIrca/cleaners building. On the north side of the outage, no lights or signs of power are evident before the flashing yellow light at SW Walker/California SW. (a few minutes later) On the west, the outage stretches to the east side of 44th – 7-11 has NO power, Bank of America is out – but the power is on starting with the west side of 44th. Heading down to the water now to check on Alki/Harbor.
8:29 AM: Just drove Alki from Seacrest to Cactus, power’s ON, no apparent problems – though the road shows numerous signs of undone pothole repairs – the gravel/asphalt material littering the lanes, holes reopened – so be careful, even in the middle of the road away from the puddles. In addition to the Admiral/California outage, there may be other pockets – Mac just mentioned via Twitter that they’re OUT along Ferry in North Admiral. Please note that while the city website is back on, the current SCL “tracker” is NOT accurate – it doesn’t show any of the areas where we’ve verified the power’s out. Also to reiterate – the Alaska/California Junction was ***not*** affected so plans are still ON for today’s Hometown Holidays festivities (Santa photos, Farmers Market, etc.).
8:59 AM: A crew was just putting out signs to close West Marginal Way SW south of Puget, as we arrived to check out reports of tree trouble as well as deep water (so much puddling even north of here, it’s not safe to drive) – so avoid W. Marginal Way TFN – we’ll be trying to check from the south side to see how far the closure stretches.
9:19 AM: If you need sandbags, there are still a few left on the east side of Delridge Community Center – photo above is from just a couple moments ago. (later note – as of 10:30, all gone, will try to find out if more will come)
9:37 AM: Longfellow Creek is now over its banks by Allstar Fitness. The parking lot was just being roped off as we drove up. Here’s the creek overflowing the nearby pedestrian bridge:
Club still open as far as we know. (P.S. For those who’ve asked – here’s the famous 12/2007 photo.)
9:53 AM: In case you were wondering, the West Seattle Farmers’ Market IS up and running (will be, at 10 am) – just drove by, vendors finishing setup – The Junction was NOT affected by the power outage. Santa photos start at 11 am at Donna Ryan Photography (this week’s $15 donation benefits West Seattle Helpline).
10:16 AM: City Light’s most recent estimate for restoring Admiral power is 11 am – we’ll be back there to check in person (and please let us know if you’re in the area, the second you’re back on).
10:35 AM UPDATE: Thanks to Laura and Pete for the note that Delridge CC is out of sandbags again. We’ll try to find out if more will be available. Meantime, WSDOT says the northbound I-5 exit to the West Seattle Bridge is closed, too much water. That and West Marginal Way SW are the two main closures affecting WS – that we know of, anyway – so far. Seattle Parks also reports the Longfellow Creek flooding has closed the WS Golf Course.
10:55 AM UPDATE: The NB I-5 exit to WS Bridge has reopened, says WSDOT. City Light says the still-out Admiral customers should be back on “within the hour.”
11:18 AM UPDATE: Starting to get word of people indeed getting their power back on in the Admiral outage zone. Muttley Crew Cuts (42nd/Admiral, west side) says theirs is back.
11:36 AM UPDATE: The photo above is the intrepid crew at the Hometown Holidays (co-sponsored by WSB) tent outside KeyBank in The Junction, there till 3 pm. Bring pet food for the donation drive! They’re kitty corner from Santa’s photo HQ at Donna Ryan Photography (also till 3). Meantime, the rain is lightening just a bit … the clouds seem to be lightening a bit … there’s hope this really will ease later this afternoon. We’ll be starting an afternoon story within the next hour or so, with ongoing afternoon updates – till then, this one is “stuck” atop the home page, with any newer news going beneath it, fyi.
12:10 PM: Though West Marginal Way SW is open again at the spot where we found it closed earlier, there’s a massive puddle further south and police were putting out flares – plus we lost our steering going through it (too late to turn around), and there are other big puddles further north, so AVOID W. Marginal TFN. Also beware Oregon just east of Delridge; there’s gravel all over the road.
We’re at the Seattle Municipal Tower downtown, where Seattle City Light superintendent Jorge Carrasco is leading a media briefing about streetlight safety, in the wake of both the Thanksgiving Day electrocution of a dog who walked onto an electrified plate by a Queen Anne light, and a High Point incident revealed last night. Though City Light’s account did not mention names, HP resident Wendy Hughes-Jelen identified herself in WSB comments as the person who called to report a streetlight that appeared to be having problems, after her Italian greyhound Sophia acted oddly around it. Carrasco says the pole she reported (on SW Raymond, near the one in our photo) was indeed found to have “voltage” on the pole – no one was injured, however. That has been repaired, and he says after immediate testing of a half-dozen poles nearby, crews also went out yesterday and tested all 170 streetlights in the High Point area to be sure there were no other problems; there weren’t, but the grounding system there will be evaluated, in case a “more robust” grounding system is needed, according to Carrasco. Other “similar” developments will be checked ASAP, he said – listing them later as Greenbridge in White Center, as well as two Seattle developments, Rainier Vista and New Holly. The problem that caused the voltage in the High Point pole, according to the superintendent, was a frayed wire. The pole carried 50 volts, said City Light staffers at the briefing, which Carrasco confirmed could have been a problem if a pet or child had touched it before it was fixed. The voltage involved in the Queen Anne dog’s death, they said, was 90.
Here’s what he mentioned regarding safety “going forward”: As of New Year’s Day, there’s a new grounding standard for all metal poles, and City Light will be accountable for all inspections from thereon out. “We operate the streetlight system – we need to be the ones making sure the streetlights are safe,” Carrasco said. (It was revealed in coverage of the Queen Anne dog incident that SDOT had some accountability for checking the lights.) He also discussed the decorative streetlights that are in place in some neighborhoods – saying it’s difficult for crews to keep track of the different grounding configurations. “We are going to reduce the number of options going forward,” Carrasco said, regarding those types of streetlamps, in order to reduce the chances of safety hazards. He also announced a plan to test all 20,000 existing metal-poled streetlights (the rest of the city’s system has wooden poles) for voltage between now and next May 1st, while noting that a just-completed inventory of streetlights has had crews visiting all of those poles fairly recently, with no problems detected at the time. “We had a human being in the past year touching every one of those poles, metal or wood, and no problems were reported,” he reiterated. (As part of the inventory process, a metal plate was attached to metal poles.)
If you see anything of concern with a streetlight or pole, Carrasco stressed, call City Light at 206-684-7056 (the number we mentioned last night); he says staff has been trained so that they will recognize signs of a problem requiring an immediate inspection. We are checking to see what hours that number is answered, and what to do if you see a potential problem after-hours. Bottom line, though, SCL says these problems are extremely rare, so – Carrasco insists – you do NOT need to be worried that every streetlight pole you see is a potential hazard.
You might have heard about the dog electrocuted on Queen Anne because of an “energized metal plate” over a streetlight power vault. Tonight, Seattle City Light reveals that a subsequent call from a worried High Point resident led them to a malfunctioning streetlight. From an SCL media advisory tonight:
“We received a call from a customer who believed that a streetlight in her neighborhood may not be working properly,” says Superintendent of City Light Jorge Carrasco. “Crews investigated the streetlight on Tuesday, found that there were exposed wires in the lamphead and immediately repaired it. There was no damage or injury associated with this malfunctioning streetlight.”
According to tonight’s advisory, Carrasco will brief the media tomorrow on the utility’s plans to check the system’s 20,000 metal streetlight poles and 10,000 metal streetlight-vault covers, and to fix any that need repairs. Meantime, if you suspect any kind of trouble with a streetlight – even if it’s just burned out – the city has long had a reporting system set up: Find the online form and phone number here.
(UPDATED 5:22 PM: At the end of the story, we’ve added new information from the county, including an open letter to the community, and information on how residents of the proposed-for-purchase Lowman Beach properties were notified. ADDITIONAL UPDATE 6:35 PM with Fauntleroy reaction)
(County map showing where the “green stormwater infrastructure” is proposed for the area feeding the Barton pump station; go here for larger version)
ORIGINAL 2:40 PM REPORT: Just in from King County Wastewater Treatment Division: The county has announced its preferred alternatives for facilities to achieve a required reduction in CSOs (combined-sewer overflows) at the Murray (Lowman Beach) and Barton (next to the Fauntleroy ferry dock) Pump Stations. For Murray, they propose building a million-gallon storage tank under private property across the street from Lowman Beach Park – which the county would have to buy (even if that involves “eminent domain“); for Barton, the Green Stormwater Infrastructure project – read on for the news release; more to come – the process of arriving at these choices has been going on for more than 3 years (with major acceleration in fall of last year). and today’s announcement is the first step toward an in-depth environmental review:Read More
Just in from Seattle Public Utilities: As it was on Tuesday, trash/recycling pickup is CANCELED again today – put out double NEXT Wednesday. Here’s the news release just received:Read More
We’ve added this to the main story atop the page, but for anyone looking for it separately, this just in from Seattle Public Utilities:
Garbage, yard waste and recycling collection has been delayed in Seattle for today, Tuesday, November 23, due to dangerous road conditions.
Collection services will be available today in Seattle on a limited basis for large essential commercial accounts.
Missed customers will be collected next Tuesday, November 30, and allowed to set out double their normal amount of garbage at no additional charge.
Customers missed Monday, November 22, will be collected next Monday, November 29, and also allowed to set out double their normal amount of garbage at no additional charge.
When setting out extra waste, customers are encouraged to place perishable food items in their collection containers and set bagged, non-perishable items next to the containers.
From tonight’s Fauntleroy Community Association meeting: Topic A remains the recently surfaced suggestion that the south parking lot of Lincoln Park might be the best place for a storage facility to reduce combined-sewer overflows (CSO) from the Murray Pump Station at Lowman Beach. As noted in previous coverage, the idea came from a citizens’ advisory group made up mostly of people who live outside Fauntleroy, which already is in line to get a CSO-reduction project for the area feeding the Barton Pump Station next to the ferry dock. Tonight, FCA members decided they’ll seek to meet with King County Wastewater Treatment Division‘s Linda Sullivan to talk about their ongoing concerns, many of which were expressed at last week’s community meeting about the proposal (WSB coverage here, including video of the entire meeting). They also want to talk about what might be done to mitigate the effects if the site is chosen. The comment deadline is November 15th, and King County – according to what spokesperson Annie Kolb-Nelson told us a few days ago – expects to decide on its “preferred alternatives” for Murray and Barton in mid-December, so there’s some urgency. Main issues for the FCA regarding the parking lot: Where would people park during construction? How would local businesses be affected? (For more information on the CSO proposals, go here for the Murray process, and here for the Barton process.) One other item of business tonight: March 15, 2011, is the date chosen for the FCA’s annual Food Fest membership-drive event.
The FCA meets the second Tuesday of each month, 7 pm at The Hall at Fauntleroy (in the schoolhouse).
Today’s weather is what the Combined Sewer Overflow situation along south West Seattle beaches is potentially all about: If heavy rainstorm runoff from “combined sewer” systems overwhelms a pump station’s capacity, that triggers an untreated-water overflow containing raw sewage as well as stormwater, and that’s bad news for Puget Sound, so King County has to decide how to reduce those overflows. Right now the focus in West Seattle is on the “basins” feeding two pump stations, Murray (Lowman Beach) and Barton (north of the Fauntleroy ferry dock). The process of figuring out the best way to reduce CSOs at Murray has stirred the most controversy, after the county back in March unveiled three options, 
including potentially digging up most of Lowman Beach Park to put in a huge storage facility. Tonight, the county is hoping for maximum community turnout at a briefing on the option that a community-advisory group favors – involving putting most of the storage under the south parking lot at Lincoln Park (county photo at right). In particular, it’s hoped the Fauntleroy community comes to hear about this, since it’s in their area, rather than in the area directly served by the Murray station. The meeting is 6:30-8:30 pm tonight at The Hall at Fauntleroy in the Fauntleroy schoolhouse (as explained here) – 9131 California SW; here’s a map.
10:46 AM: Our power just went out. Checking on the extent.
10:51 AM UPDATE: We’ll make this an overall storm update – also just received a text about trouble on the West Seattle Bridge, nothing on 911, though. Meantime, via Twitter and text, we hear power’s out in High Point – flickered in Fauntlee Hills and Fairmount Park area but didn’t go out. This is not on the new Seattle City Light outage tracker yet – we’ll see how long it takes to show up. We’ve also got someone driving around to see who’s out where – on California SW through Gatewood, it appears to be back around SW Holden; we’re checking 35th next.
11:06 AM UPDATE: We called City Light to be sure someone had reported this, since it’s still not on the outage tracker. The customer-service rep says it’s out in “patches” – 108 customers (each home/business is one “customer”) in this area. Most other areas checking in via comments here, Facebook, Twitter, and e-mail, say there were widespread “flickers” but the power stayed on for them.
11:23 AM UPDATE: The City Light outage tracker is showing this now (no cause or “estimated restoration time” yet). And this seems to be the only WS pocket right now, that same 108-customer count.
11:57 AM UPDATE: There are now two “pockets” listed by City Light in the West Seattle area, with more than 200 customers affected – besides this one, there’s a stretch immediately east of central Lincoln Park.
12 PM UPDATE: Our power just returned. But the windblown rain has just intensified …
Tomorrow, the entire City of Seattle website is scheduled to launch a new look, “making services more accessible,” according to the mayor’s office. Today, Seattle City Light> is already a bit ahead of the curve – with a new “outage tracker” already online. City Light’s Scott Thomsen walked us through it: Go to the SCL home page at seattle.gov/light – and note the System Status box in the right sidebar:
Caveat, this will look different after tomorrow’s redesign launches – but the same info will be available in this order, toward the top of the page. If there’s an outage, a click in the box will take you to a map, where the outage will be marked in red (the bigger the outage, the bigger the mark, but as you zoom in on the map, you’ll get to something like this) – a click on the red brings up a bubble with outage basics:
The biggest thing, Thomsen explains, is that this will be updated every 15 minutes, and it will automatically get new information from what City Light workers are learning from callers and crew members. Previously, the utility used a seldom-used webpage that sometimes displayed outage information – and more often didn’t – Thomsen explains that it wasn’t linked into outage-related info the way this new one is. In addition, the old system wouldn’t be called into action for small outages; this one will show outages of any size. You still need to call and report them, he emphasizes – City Light does not yet have the technology to automatically detect them. But the new software enabling the online “system status” will enable more features around next February, Thomsen adds – perhaps even phone notifications when the outage at your house is over.
Melissa e-mailed to say that she and neighbors in the 1700 block of Walnut (map) are noticing “brown water” this morning. No word so far from Seattle Public Utilities of any particular problems – SPU has a webpage (see it here) suggesting steps to take if you notice a problem like that at your home/office.
After hearing from Jennifer, Amanda, and Scott C about a Comcast outage affecting some in High Point and Gatewood (anyone else?), we checked directly with the company, whose local spokesperson Steve Kipp tells us, “The outage is related to the power outages that occurred in the area due to the transformer fire on Delridge” (WSB outage/fire coverage here) – possibly, according to the person he checked with, the fault of a surge when the power started returning. He adds, “We have technicians working on the scene now. I will let you know as soon as repairs are completed. I also will post updates on Twitter at @comcastwa. 12:21 PM UPDATE: Latest tweet from that account says the outage is 75 percent fixed (that leaves about 700 people affected, according to Kipp). 2:27 PM UPDATE: And Comcast now says everybody should be back up.
Alert for people who live near, and/or use, Lowman Beach Park – King County has just announced that three weeks of sewer-maintenance work at Murray Pump Station – which is underneath the park – will start next Tuesday (NOT a week later, as previously announced). Read on for full text of the announcement:Read More
(Scroll down for latest update – thanks to everyone who called/texted/e-mailed when this started!)
ORIGINAL 2:38 PM REPORT: Getting reports including Seaview and Morgan. Also central Beach Drive. 2750 homes and businesses. Seattle City Light has crews en route but says they don’t know yet what’s wrong.
2:47 PM: City Light’s online update has increased that to 2,814. It’s NOT affecting us here in upper Fauntleroy – we were just on a story in Sunrise Heights and all was well there too. But the “Alki” description SCL has is not entirely accurate. Let us know if you’re off or on.
3:04 PM UPDATE: Added photo of powerless stoplight at California/Graham in Morgan Junction (next to a long-shuttered landmark of sorts). Note the comments for ongoing reports on the boundaries of the outage – we’ve got some Admiral, some Alki, some Morgan Junction. Nothing south of MJ so far. Some areas apparently flickered (like Arbor Heights) at the time it started, but stayed on – while others went out and are still out. But northward, we’ve got Alki Point and Admiral Junction, among others. Apparently east West Seattle is OK. The official start time of the outage, per City Light, was 2:26 pm.
3:26 PM UPDATE: Just checked with Scott Thomsen at City Light, now that we’re an hour into the outage. He says two crews are out “running the lines,” trying to trace the outage’s cause/source, but haven’t found it yet, so they can’t say how long till the power’s back on. He confirms that the southernmost reports have come from south Morgan Junction (SW Holly).
3:47 PM UPDATE: City Light has a cause now – trash truck hit a tree, knocking the tree into power lines. They say they hope to have most back by 4 pm, everyone by 8:30 pm. Let us know when you get it back. P.S. We’ve gone to The Junction to check – though there are points south and north that are out, Junction is OK.
3:52 PM: Getting reports of power coming back on in various areas – so let us know if a little while elapses and you’re still OUT. (added) P.S. – Doug just sent this photo of what we believe to be THE truck vs. tree scene – 49th/Raymond:
4:26 PM: Another quick update from City Light – more than 500 homes/businesses who don’t have their power yet should have it back by 6:30 pm.
Thanks to Aaron for the tip: A small power outage has affected several establishments on the east side of California, north of Admiral Way. He says it had something to do with a transformer problem behind Admiral Pub. Looks like that’s one of three businesses affected, along with Yen Wor and Brickyard; we just went in and checked – Admiral Pub is empty right now, Yen Wor is open, waiting for “an hour or two” to see what happens,” and Brickyard is open but, a Twitter tipster also says, serving drinks, not food, and “cash only.” They say they were told the power may not return before midnight; we’re checking with City Light. (The other side of the street is NOT affected.)
Thanks to MargL for the tip that the California/Oregon stoplight is out. (Also thanks to those who messaged us about it via Twitter.) No word at this point if it’s part of a larger outage; we’re checking. Earlier this afternoon, according to a note we received from Craig, there was a small outage in Admiral:
A crow got a little too close to the primary and secondary terminals on the transformer between Fairmount Ave SW and Walnut Ave SW alley close to Hanford St. There were about six customers that were without power for about 35 minutes. The Seattle City Light Crew was here in 28 minutes. That’s GREAT.
(Craig included a photo of the crow atop its final resting place; we’ll just let it be.)
Not sure if anybody’s reported that burned-out streetlight yet? Not sure how soon it’s going to get repaired? Seattle City Light just unveiled an online tracker (incorporating a Google Map) – which you can use to report one, as well as track one. It’s explained here.
(Scroll down for morning update on suspected cause)
9:50 PM: Getting multiple reports via e-mail, Twitter, Facebook of power flickers – and apparently at least one actual outage in Highland Park. Checking.
9:57 PM UPDATE: Reported outages include areas of High Point, Fairmount Park, Highland Park. As pointed out by Pete in comments, and shown on the 911 log, there’s a transformer fire reported in the 8100 block of 1st Avenue South, which is between West Seattle and South Park (map) by Highway 509. P.S. If you’re in south West Seattle – those are the White Center Jubilee Days fireworks you’re hearing right now (we can hear them in Upper Fauntleroy, *not* something related to this.)
10:18 PM UPDATE: City Light’s official update calls this a “large” outage in West Seattle, but doesn’t yet list a cause. Still checking.
10:45 PM UPDATE: Just got a call back from City Light media liaison. They still don’t know what caused this, he says, so they don’t know how soon it will be fixed. Crews are currently out following the trail of the outage, which affects about 900 homes/businesses right now (large area but spotty in its effects, as we saw while driving around looking). He says the system “tried to right itself by cycling” – but it “locked out” and “the circuit remained open.” We’ll keep checking for updates.
10:54 PM UPDATE: Getting some reports of power coming back on. Let us know if yours was out but has returned.
11:27 PM UPDATE: Still no official word on the cause – we’ll see what we can find out from the SCL communications team in the morning. But more people have reported getting their power back.
12:03 AM UPDATE: … but not everybody, as comments indicate – part of Highland Park is still out of power.
1:09 AM UPDATE: Paula just texted to say the outage continues in her part of eastern WS. City Light has now briefly mentioned the outage here, but no new info.
1:44 AM UPDATE: And after about four hours, that area’s back too, according to another text just received from Paula. (Thanks again to everyone for sharing news on what’s happening where you are!)
8:11 AM UPDATE: City Light says it believes the outage was caused by a tree/power line conflict in the greenbelt near 4th SW/Cloverdale (northeast of West Seattle Reservoir).
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