Tag Archives: power outages

‘High Wind Warning’ — Forecast says gusty Monday in store for Seattle — UPDATE: Power out to more than 11K around Capitol Hill

Posted on by

Lights out for QFC

UPDATE 11/13/2017: Above, scenes from a darkened Broadway. More on the night’s power outages, below.
UPDATEx2 11/14/2017: More than 3,000 were still without power Tuesday morning around the Hill — many of them around the Summit Ave area of the Hill. More updates below.

Original Report 11/13/2017 8:57 AM: Batten down the hatches. And charge your mobile devices. The National Weather Service says wild winds will whip western Washington Monday afternoon:

A “High Wind Warning” has been issued for the Puget Sound and Seattle through 9 PM:

* WIND…South 25 to 40 mph with gusts TO 60 or 65 mph.

* SOME AFFECTED LOCATIONS…The I-5 metro corridor from Lewis
county north to Snohomish county. Includes the greater Seattle
area, Bellevue, Tacoma, Bremerton, and Olympia.

* TIMING…Late this morning through early this evening.

* IMPACTS…Falling trees and limbs, power outages, and minor
damage to structures.

While the grid serving Capitol Hill is about as stout as they come thanks to work to move wires underground, big infrastructure investments for Capitol Hill Station, the ongoing development in the area, and First Hill’s medical services core, the leafier edges of the neighborhood and surrounding areas like the Central District have plenty of water-soaked trees and branches.

We’ll be on the watch for any power issues. The Seattle City Light Status page is here. Let us know what you’re seeing. You can check out area streets on the CHS traffic cameras page and see current conditions including recent wind speed readings on the CHS weather page.

UPDATE 4:50 PM: With winds peaking just before 5 PM, Seattle Fire was responding to reported wires down on Belmont Ave at E Olive Way after a tree or branch fell in the area. There were reports of a transformer explosion and wires down across a few parked vehicles in the area. Meanwhile, a tree took down utility lines at 22nd and Prospect around the same time. Continue reading →

City Light heads into overtime after seagull reportedly knocks out Pike/Pine power

Posted on by

Cal Anderson mural - seagull

See latest outage updates at seattle.gov/light/sysstat/

See latest outage updates at seattle.gov/light/sysstat/

Seattle City Light crews were racing against the clock Saturday morning with several Pike/Pine and Broadway bars and restaurants rooting for a last minute big play. Meanwhile, area seagulls were in mourning.

A power outage starting around 8 AM left more than 300 customers in the dark around the intersection of Pine and Broadway Saturday as fans awaited the noontime kickoff of the national semifinal college football game pitting Washington vs. Alabama in the Peach Bowl. “We were planning on showing the Huskies at noon. Will keep you posted when power is back on. Crossing our fingers, @SEACityLight!,” @optimismbrewing tweeted.

A department representative tells CHS that Seattle Fire reported the outage was caused by a seagull that touched overhead lines, causing a “bridge” that overloaded current and destroyed equipment at the scene. Overhead crews aren’t typically on call on the weekend so City Light workers headed into overtime to try to help area watering holes be part of the big game.

Seattle City light estimated a 1:30 PM restoration of service.

Capitol Hill part of big winds, big booms, and power outages across Seattle

Posted on by
Seattle City Light System Status -- see the latest updates

Seattle City Light System Status — see the latest updates

A late Sunday afternoon of surging gusts and booming transformers left thousands without power across northern Capitol Hill and Seattle.

While the Capitol Hill area made it through the initial brunt of the afternoon windstorm, another surge in windy conditions after 3 PM toppled trees, branches, and utility wires.

At least two big booms were heard around 3:30 PM when a large swath of power outages struck around northern Capitol Hill. Crews were called to an area near 22nd and Madison to deal with one incident. Power outages in that area left many buildings dark including the nearby Safeway where passengers were stuck in an elevator. On E Denny just east of 12th Ave, a tree toppled onto a parked car and blocked the street. There were no reported injuries. Wires were also reported down in the 400 block of 11th Ave E and a tree leaning precariously on wires forced the closure of an alley in the 200 block of Belmont Ave E.

The day has also been deadly. A man was killed earlier Sunday when his car was struck by a falling tree at Seward Park. A toddler child inside the vehicle survived the accident.

The winds reaching sustained gusts above 50 MPH were also strong enough to require closure of the 520 bridge. Gusts above 40 MPH were measured at a weather station on Capitol Hill. Continue reading →

Windy morning causes power outages around northern Capitol Hill

Posted on by
DSC01472

Downed power line below 26th and Helen. (Image: CHS)

Trees and utility poles buckled around Capitol Hill Thursday morning as wind gusts nearing 45 miles per hour caused a power outage affecting more than 10,000 residents and businesses around Seattle. But by 10 AM, many customers on the northern edges of the Hill and along 19th Ave E and around Volunteer Park already had their electricity restored thanks to a fast response by repair crews dealing with a sparking, flaming downed wire near 26th and E Helen.

While Seattle City Light estimated it would take several hours to restore power to some 5,600 customers from Montlake to E Madison along 24th and 23rd Ave, residents were starting to see the lights come back within an hour.

Seattle Fire crews responded to a fire resulting from the downed power line at 26th and Helen.

SCL expected it would take several hours to restore power to customers still without power around Montlake.

You can see SCL’s power outage map here.

The lesser Capitol Hill Crow Blackout of 2013

Posted on by

Bringing to mind the great Capitol Hill Crow Blackout of May 16th, 2010, 34 Capitol Hill customers are without power until around midnight Monday night after a reported crow vs. power lines incident around 7:30 PM. Here’s the report from Amy:

I’m sure this is old news for you, but there was a loud bang about an hour ago, followed by brownouts. It sounded like it was several blocks away from my place (which is on Belmont & Republican). My landlord just stopped by to say that some of our building has power and some tenants don’t. Our landlord said he heard a crow or two landed on a transformer and somehow that was enough to make it explode. If true, that must have been thr unluckiest crow ever.

City Light estimates a return to service by 11:40 PM. RIP, crow.