White Center Now: The blog about White Center

The heart of White Center was spared again, but points east and south were hit by power outages as the expected wind moved through early this morning. Above is a screengrab from the Seattle City Light outage map. Though the map shows potential restoration times, remember that those are only guesses/estimates, so if you’re out, you might get yours back sooner than projected – or later.

12:21 PM: The wind’s here and so is the first major power outage in our area – screengrab above is from the Seattle City Light outage map. The High Wind Warning remains in effect until 7 pm.

3:34 PM: This outage is down to 1,700+ customers. And the weather is “settling down,” as the National Weather Service puts it.

11:28 PM: Big power outage – stretching from east White Center and Top Hat into Burien; about 5,800 homes/businesses, according to Seattle City Light, which says it started around 10:20 pm. No word yet what caused it. Thanks to Alisha, Barb, and others for the tips!

11:54 PM: According to the SCL map, affected areas north of Burien are back on – power has been restored to more than 1,800 affected customers.

7:04 AM: As shown on the map, 4,000-plus customers in White Center/North Burien are without power this morning. No word yet on the cause. While Seattle City Light has an estimate of 1 pm for restoration, remember those are really guesstimates – could be a lot sooner, could be a lot later. If you encounter an intersection with a dark or flashing signal, remember it’s a four-way stop.

8:34 AM UPDATE: The outage is over. City Light says this outage was caused by a tree branch falling into a power line.

3:16 PM: Seattle City Light says 4,100 homes and businesses are without power in White Center, Shorewood, and points south. No cause listed yet; the restoration estimate is 9 pm, but keep in mind that this is only an estimate – could be much sooner or much later.

3:50 PM: The outage map now attributes this outage to a tree.

4:22 PM: Looks like almost everyone is back on.

7:29 PM: Out of power? You’re far from alone. 3,000-plus customers in White Center and south West Seattle, because of a vault fire near 22nd/Roxbury. (And Roxbury is currently blocked by the Seattle Fire response.) We’re covering the outage on partner site West Seattle Blog – go here for the latest.

8:41 PM: The City Light map shows just about everyone should be back on. If you’re not, please be sure they know – 206-684-3000.

6:18 PM: More than 3,800 homes and businesses are without electricity as a result of the storm – starting in southeast White Center and vicinity, as shown on the map above, and heading south into Top Hat and part of Burien. Any other storm effects in WC/North Highline? Let us know, text/voice 206-293-6302.

7:21 PM: Most have their power back, according to the City Light outage map – which has only about 200 customers still out of electricity.

Just announced by Seattle City Light:

Thanks to the generous contributions of Seattle City Light customers, seven local organizations will receive Green Up grants totaling nearly $1 million to support renewable energy projects and education. The seven organizations will use the grants to help install solar panels at 14 public school, affordable housing, and community-based locations.

“Over 13,000 generous community members are investing in a clean, sustainable energy future by sending a few dollars each month to purchase renewable energy credits through our Green Up program,” said City Light Customer Energy Solutions Director Craig Smith. “City Light is proud to be the steward of this grant and part of the community partnership that will benefit our schools, affordable housing, parks, and hospitals.”

Grant recipients are:

· Seattle Public Schools – $150,000 for solar installations at Bailey Gatzert Elementary, Ballard High School, Denny International Middle School, South Shore K-8 School, Hazel Wolf K-8 ESTEM School and Arbor Heights Elementary
· King County Parks — $119,014 for a solar installation at the Steve Cox Community Center
· Seattle Parks — $50,000 for a solar installation at the Brig at Magnuson Park
· Seattle Colleges — $200,000 for a solar installation at Seattle Central College
· Harborview Medical Center — $50,000 for a solar installation at the hospital
· Capitol Hill Housing – three grants totaling $225,000 for solar installations at three affordable housing complexes – the Elizabeth James House, Ponderosa Apartments and El Nor Apartments
· Pacific Science Center — $164,851 for a solar installation at the center

“We will soon be able to power the White Center community center and the adjacent basketball court using only clean, renewable energy,” King County Executive Dow Constantine said. “Our partnership with Seattle City Light will accelerate the work we are doing to transform Steve Cox Memorial Park into a model for sustainable operations.”

Thanks to Jim for the photo. He noticed the water in the road in front of the White Center Library and has reported it to Seattle Public Utilities, which was sending a crew to check it out. Jim says the water turned up tonight in a spot where he noticed a new bump in the road a day earlier.

Power went out for more than 2,000 homes and businesses in parts of White Center, South Park, and West Seattle at 11:19 am. Seattle City Light says a crash caused it; some traffic lights, including 8th/Roxbury (which is dangerous enough when the signal’s working), are out, so please remember that means they’re all-way stops until restored. SCL hopes to have this fixed by 2:30-ish pm.

(Click image to go to full-size map on City Light’s website)

Those locations in White Center, Top Hat, and other parts of North Highline are where Seattle City Light is about to begin a six-week project “to upgrade electronic equipment on 35 existing utility poles.” More details:

This project is an expansion of existing communications networks. The equipment modifications will increase public safety and enhanced-911 capabilities. The work will also improve wireless services to areas, allowing for enhanced connectivity and faster 4G service.

During this project, City Light crews will also have the opportunity to upgrade its infrastructure and replace utility poles that are in poor condition.

There are no maintenance power outages planned for this work. Some traffic and parking impacts are expected in the immediate work areas. Crews will be careful to maintain access to driveways.

4:55 AM: Power is out for what Seattle City Light‘s outage map says are 2,000+ homes/businesses, including parts of White Center and South Park. No word yet on the cause; restoration is estimated at 11 am but we always remind you, that’s just SCL’s guess, could be earlier, could be later. And please remember if you are driving before the power’s back on – any signalized intersection where the signal’s out or flashing means it’s an all-ways stop.

6:14 AM: The outage is now down to 240 customers, mostly in north Greenbridge. “Equipment failure” is now listed as the cause.

9:59 AM: Most of this – but not all – is south of White Center: 3,868 homes/businesses have lost power in the greater Highline area. See the map here.

10:50 AM: Outage over, per SCL map. The wind advisory remains in effect through 3 pm, though.

Though the wind still hasn’t revved up that much, the power went out at 1:49 am for 3,783 customers (homes/businesses), mostly in Burien but also stretching into part of North Highline, particularly Top Hat. City Light’s map has yet to pinpoint what caused it; the guesstimate for restoration is currently 8 am.

4:15 AM: Outage over, per SCL map.

As of 4:27 pm, power is out to more than 7,700 homes and businesses in Seattle City Light service area in parts of North Highline (map above from SCL website) and Burien (plus a few pockets of southeast West Seattle). No word yet on the cause. SCL is offering the guesstimate of 11 pm for restoration, but that is just a guesstimate, could be much earlier or much later. Note that assuming SCL’s map is accurate, downtown White Center is NOT affected – this is mostly south of 102nd.

5:28 PM UPDATE: The SCL map now blames “tree” for outage. Restoration guesstimate has updated to 11:25 pm.

6:13 PM UPDATE: SCL now says via Twitter “crews have now determined that the cause was due to a broken utility pole crossarm near the Duwamish Substation.”

6:47 PM UPDATE: About half of the original outage has been restored.

6:52 PM: And now all but ~500 are back on.

SUNDAY MORNING: According to the City Light map, everyone had power restored at some point very early this morning.

(Map of outage area, from Seattle City Light website)

12:56 AM: More than 3,500 homes/businesses are without power in parts of White Center and southeast West Seattle, according to Seattle City Light‘s outage map. No word yet on the cause.

1:33 AM UPDATE: 90 percent of those who lost power got it back around 1:15 am, after about 45 minutes. City Light’s map still shows almost 300 homes/businesses in White Center still without power:

Commenters here and on our partner site West Seattle Blog have mentioned the utility/emergency response centered at 8th/Roxbury; here’s what SCl just tweeted about the cause:

6:30 AM: Power has since been fully restored to the entire affected area.

2:06 AM: That’s the Seattle City Light map for an outage that started about 15 minutes ago, with reports of flashes and booms. It’s affecting more than 4,300 homes and businesses so far, mostly south of downtown White Center, as you can see on the map. We’re monitoring to see what caused it and when SCL hopes to get power restored – the estimates on the outage-info map are generally just guesstimates until they find the cause.

3:08 AM: Still no word on the cause but about one-third of those originally affected now have power back – it’s now down to 2,695 customers.

3:42 PM: Most have been back on for some time but City Light spokesperson Scott Thomsen says about 10 percent of those originally affected remain out – he also updated us on the cause: “A tree fell into wires, which caused a fault current that was big enough that it damaged some of the wire. So crews have been working to replace the damaged wire. There are about 450 customers still out. We estimate having them back in service around 4:15 pm.”

Most of the affected area is in West Seattle so we’re covering it for now on our partner site West Seattle Blog.

3:37 PM: Thanks to the person who texted to let us know about the power outage in downtown White Center and vicinity – 262 homes and businesses, according to the Seattle City Light map. We’re checking on the cause.

4:12 PM UPDATE: City Light’s map does not seem to be accurate – we just drove down 16th and 17th SW downtown and saw illuminated OPEN signs on both sides of both streets.

7:12 PM UPDATE: The outage is entirely over now, according to the online map. We’ll be asking SCL tomorrow about the cause.

(Above, the White Center/Top Hat section of the outage)

2:08 AM: Thanks to Alisha for the tip: The Seattle City Light map confirms a big power outage – in two distinct areas, primarily east White Center, Top Hat, and north/northwest Burien. More than 3,500 customers (homes and businesses) are affected. No word yet what caused it; it started around 1:45 am. We’ll update when we find out more.

2:46 AM: Most of the Burien customers have their power back, according to SCL. Still no word on the cause.

4:36 AM: The cause is now listed on SCL’s site as “tree.” No elaboration. And the number of customers out of power is down to just under 700.

UPDATE: Here’s the final word from City Light (with whom we’ll follow up on Monday to find out about WHERE the tree went into the lines):