White Center Now: The blog about White Center

Just in from King County:

Fewer King County residents than expected are struggling with
weather-related impacts today as the overnight storm packed less of a
punch than forecast. The weather along with staffing and preparations by
King County departments and regional partners combined to help keep
people moving and safe overnight.

King County’s Department of Transportation sanding crews are working
around the clock to keep county roads clear in unincorporated areas.
They’ve deployed 27 trucks with a plow in front and sander on the back,
two plows, nine graders for pushing snow off roadways, and nine
anti-icer trucks.

Metro Transit is operating approximately half of its normal bus service
today. Riders should check the Metro Online website at
www.kingcounty.gov/metro to see if their bus route is operating and if
it is on snow routing; and note that travel conditions can change
quickly so the list of disrupted service may be revised at any time due
to weather and road conditions.

Metro is running Access vans on life-sustaining routes for established
riders.

Metro also helped keep thousands of cars off the roads today by running
its Seahawks shuttle service today to Qwest Field from Eastgate
Park-and-Ride in Bellevue, Northgate Park-and-Ride in North Seattle, and
the South Kirkland Park-and-Ride. Fans should expect crowded conditions
on the shuttles, and should give themselves plenty of time to get to the
game because the buses may be delayed by road and traffic conditions.

Public Health – Seattle & King County has conducted extensive outreach
on the dangers of carbon monoxide poisoning, including contacts with
over 200 retail locations including pharmacies, grocery stores, gas
stations, hardware stores, with many agreeing to post warning pictograms
in multiple languages in their facilities. In addition, over 200 health
care and community-based organizations received carbon monoxide
information for dissemination with their clients. The posters and other
information about carbon monoxide poisoning, including symptoms and
prevention tips, are available online (
www.kingcounty.gov/healthservices/health/preparedness/disaster/ca
rbon-monoxide-english.aspx).
King County has closed its Factoria Transfer Station in Bellevue and its
Cedar Falls Drop Box in North Bend indefinitely today. The county’s
Houghton Transfer Station in Kirkland was already closed.

All other solid waste transfer facilities are operating normally for
now, but could be closed early due to continuing severe winter weather
conditions. Customers should visit the King County Solid Waste Division
Web site for updates before getting on the road (
your.kingcounty.gov/solidwaste/facilities/transfer.asp).

Considering the widespread snow and wind that pushed through the region,
relatively few residents are facing power outages and Puget Sound Energy
has been able to quickly restore most customers who lost power over the
last 24 hours. Roughly 50 PSE customers scattered throughout King County
are without power.

Although the winter storm warning for the Tacoma/Seattle/Everett Metro
Area has been cancelled, another weather system is expected to bring a
trace to two inches of snow around 2 pm today.

Some info:

King County road reports can be found here — nothing listed in White Center as of this writing late Saturday night, but there is one in Boulevard Park.

Driving to the airport? A reader tells us Highway 509 is OK but Highway 518 is treacherous. More airport info here (the cell-phone lot is closed).

Just started falling. Info updates re: roads etc. as we get them, as it intensifies. Got pix/info? Leave comments and/or send to the White Center Now team at whitecenternow@gmail.com – thanks!

Note the “live” (refresh for the latest image) camera in the right sidebar – it’s the only one the county has in White Center; click it for a larger image. Metro has a long list of canceled/changed routes again today; find it here. Winter break has started for every school we know of.

8:46 AM UPDATE: Photo of Roxbury at 5th from Jon, who says: “Looking easy towards Myers Way. Plenty of cars going down the hill.”

Thanks – keep the arterial reports/photos coming at editor@westseattleblog.com Another report: “My hubby made it down the big hill from Roxbury to 509 this morning about 7:30. He said it was sanded like crazy and was passable.”

10:25 AM UPDATE: Lots of King County facility closures – here’s the full list.

The forecasters were finally right. No word of school changes yet, though (as of 5:25 am).

5:29 AM UPDATE: Seattle Public Schools are CLOSED for today.

5:40 AM UPDATE: Highline Public Schools are 1 hour late, “limited buses.” South Seattle Community College is starting at 10 am. We’ll keep checking for changes, which tend to happen if/as weather worsens.

5:57 AM UPDATE: Metro has updated its list of bus routes on “adverse weather” reroute. See it here.

6:16 AM UPDATE: Holy Family in White Center is closed today.

7:20 AM UPDATE: Shorewood Christian School will be open at 10:30 am.

7:42 AM UPDATE: Per scanner, SW 100th in 4th SW area “impassable.”

7:59 AM UPDATE: Shorewood Christian School changed status to CLOSED.

8:25 AM UPDATE: Myers Way is closed.

8:45 AM UPDATE: Highline Public Schools has changed its plan:

All elementary schools will be closed today due to snow. Because of developing weather conditions and late notice, middle schools and high schools will remain open.

10:55 AM UPDATE: Olson closed too.

11:56 AM UPDATE: Highline Public Schools changed its status again:

Due to worsening weather conditions, we will dismiss secondary students early today.

* Buses will pick up students at Puget Sound Skills Center at 11:45 a.m. and return them to their high schools.
* High schools will be dismissed at noon.
* Middle schools will be dismissed at 12:30.
* Emergency bus stops will be used on all bus routes.
* All after-school and evening activities, sports, and events and evening building use have been canceled.
* Also, we hope to make decisions about tomorrow this evening.

Also, Metro is warning its afternoon service will be limited; read more here.