More than 3,000 customers were without power Wednesday morning as a power outage stretched across a large swath of Capitol Hill and onto First Hill.
City Light says the outage occurred just before 9 AM and that workers were still trying to identify a cause.
CHS has received reports that a construction crane may have struck wires near 12th and Union. However, we have also received multiple reports of downed wires near Stewart and Yale.
The online City Light status map is not being updated at this time. City Light said it was also looking into why that system is down.
Outage Reports
- “12th at Union”
- “Power is out around Denny/Bellevue/Olive”
- “Power is out in the whole of Pike/Pine, Melrose to Broadway”
- “18th at Union”
UPDATE: The City Light automated status map is now updated with the outages:
3,620 without service — estimated restoration time: Noon.
UPDATE: City light says a truck damaging a utility pole near Denny and Yale set off the outage:
Seattle City Light crews were working Wednesday morning to restore power for about 3,600 homes and businesses in Capitol Hill, First Hill and South Lake Union after a car struck a utility pole.
The outage started about 8:46 a.m. when the car struck the pole near the intersection of Denny Way and Yale Avenue. An initial estimate for restoration of service was set for noon.
General boundaries for the outage were E Denny Way on the north, E Columbia Street on the south, Interstate 5 on the west and 21st Avenue on the east. Not all homes and businesses in that area were affected.
UPDATE: Apparently, a semi truck got tangled in wires this morning:
(Image: Jessica Schumaker with permission)
Here’s the result from @u747:
UPDATE: Reports from many parts of the Hill that power has been restored starting around 10:05 AM.
UPDATE: SPD says it is investigating the semi-truck vs. pole incident.
Anyone know if the Bauhaus block has power?
I saw the transformers explode as the semi hit them at Stewart and Yale. Downed wires across Stewart and mangled electrical equipment strewn across Yale.
Bauhaus is without power.
For those seeking coffee, heat, wifi, and awesome sandwiches Scratch Deli (12th between Howell and Olive) still has power. Just checked:)
announcement just received:
INFORMATION FROM PUBLIC SAFETY
TIMELY WARNING
This is an update from the Department of Public Safety.
The power failure at Seattle University continues to impact the north side of campus.
AT THIS TIME PUBLIC SAFETY IS BEGINNING AN EVACUATION OF ALL BUILDINGS THAT ARE WITHOUT POWER.
CLASSES IN BUILDINGS WITHOUT POWER ARE CANCELLED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.
PLEASE MOVE TO THE LIBRARY OR THE STUDENT CENTER.
Seattle City Light crews are working to restore power in the First Hill Capital Hill and South Lake Union areas of the City. The power outage is a result of a vehicle striking a power pole in the immediate vicinity.
I you are in need of immediate assistance that is a life threatening situation or know of such a situation please call immediately. Otherwise, please do not call Public Safety at this time as many people are trying to report the power outage. WE ARE AWARE. Please keep our phone lines open for emergency calls.
NEXT UPDATE TO THIS MESSAGE WILL BE APPROXIMATELY 10:45am
PUBLIC SAFETY
206 296 5990
From a reliable source, power is back on there. I can’t verify anywhere else yet.
Back on as of 10:11am.
We appreciate your service!
I saw the lights flicker, but we never lost power.
I just don’t understand why we have these huge trucks lumbering through our city streets. I’ve seen so many accidents and problems, even a semi grounded on the lip of one of the steep inclines downtown, that it just doesn’t seem that we should even have them downtown. Yes, yes, we need to transport goods. But don’t you think we could have trucks stop in SODO and then transfer the goods into smaller vehicles, perhaps even more eco-friendly vehicles, and then distribute them across the city? You can’t say this won’t work, because I can’t recall ever seeing a semi-truck in downtown Paris, Buenos Aires, or even New York (from what I remember). Isn’t it time we think about alternatives to these giant trucks coming through city streets?
Maybe we should have all that stuff go by cargo bike instead!
That idea probably wouldn’t work from a logistical point of view not to mention the cost. But it does beg the question whether the people we have entrusted with our infrastructure are making modifications and updates to design the possibility of such instances out. Why was that pole and that transformer so close to the road. Of course, if you know that area, that truck should not have been making a right turn at the location if I read the photo correctly.
What clever thinking to take these pictures. I hope they can use them to track down that rogue truck driver!
designeronthehill:
Isn’t Yale a 2 way street right there? Google Maps & street view seem to indicate it is, although the photos could be out of date.
But looking at the site the curb has been pulled way back to allow right hand turns off of Stewart onto Yale. Although I would never expect an 18 wheeler to give it a try. Poor decision by the driver.