White Center Now: The blog about White Center

Seattle City Light is working on a power outage that involves almost 8,000 homes and businesses. White Center is largely spared but the SCL outage map shows areas out to the east and south, including parts of Top Hat and Boulevard Park as well as Burien. No official estimate yet for how soon it will be fixed.

Maybe you’ve seen the sign warning about lane closures at 15th/Roxbury next week; we heard about it through a reader tip. That led us to chase down details, and the King County Department of Transportation tells us it’s part of a more-extensive project:

King County has issued a permit for fiber optic installation on 15th Avenue Southwest between Roxbury Street and 107th Avenue Southwest, moving east on 107th Avenue Southwest and then south along 12th Avenue Southwest to Southwest 114th Street in the White Center area. Most of this work will involve attaching fiber to existing utility poles, so traffic disruptions should be minimal with possible intermittent lane closures.

There is more extensive work being planned at the intersection of 15th Avenue Southwest and Roxbury that will involve 200 feet of underground installation taking up to five days, half in the city, half in King County. That more intensive work will require the closure of one southbound through lane on 15th Avenue Southwest north of Roxbury and a northbound left turn lane on 15th Avenue Southwest at Roxbury. Work is planned 9 am to 3 pm weekdays March 2 through March 6. Traffic control will be in place around the work zone.

11:16 AM: Major parts of North Highline are caught up in another widespread power outage – more than 9,000 homes and businesses in all, according to Seattle City Light, which is currently projecting restoration around mid-afternoon. See the latest map of the outage locations here. (Screen grab above was taken from that same page just before 11 am.)

11:58 AM: Per City Light, everyone’s back on. (If you’re not, please let them know!)

(Screengrab of City Light map added 9:49 pm – yes, it looks a lot like the one from early today!)
No power? You’re not alone. We’re getting reports from Shorewood and part of White Center that power is out again – as of this writing Seattle City Light still doesn’t have the full scope of it on its map, but we have multiple reports it’s linked to a crash. We’re en route to the location to verify.

UPDATE: City Light also verifies the crash is to blame, at 10th/116th. We have just arrived in the area. Traffic signals are out at 16th/112th and 16th/116th, so if you have to drive in the area, please remember to treat nonfunctioning signals as four-way stops. 4,200 customers are without power, according to the customer hotline.

2ND UPDATE: Now it’s on the City Light map, as of 9:40 pm. We also have learned from sheriff’s deputies that 2 people were hurt in the crash and taken to the hospital. Too dangerous because of downed pole to get close, so we only have a photo of North Highline Fire District crew standing by:

3RD UPDATE: City Light says crews are routing power and should get it back to most “within the hour” (which would be, by 11 pm). And we’re starting to hear from people who indeed are connected again.

1:35 AM: City Light map shows 1200+ customers still out of power. We’ve also learned that Seattle Police are investigating the crash that started it. We hope to learn a lot more about that later this morning.

(Screengrab from Seattle City Light map)
12:53 AM: Shortly after major rain started to fall, power went out to a wide area including part of White Center. The Seattle City Light outage map shows more than 4,200 homes/businesses are out of power. So far, no cause listed – just that SCL is “investigating” – but at least one tipster reports big lightning preceded it.

1:30 AM: City Light says it’s restored power to about a third of the customers affected, leaving about 2,600 without electricity.

2:02 AM: And now, fewer than 1,000 still without power.

6 AM: Almost 600, mostly in the South Park area, remain without power.

(Crossposted from partner site West Seattle Blog)

(Looks like the early-morning outage map, but this is the NEW one)
If you were up for the two-hour power outage in the middle of the night – because the footprint is just about the same. About 2,000 homes and businesses are without power right now, according to the City Light map, in White Center as well as parts of West Seattle and South Park. City Light explains:

A large tree fell into wires near Highland Park Way SW and SW Othello Street. It broke several of the tie wires that keep the power lines attached to the insulators on the poles.

Crews are working to reroute power around the damage. This will bring about 75 percent of the affected customers back into service in the next 60-90 minutes.

Crews will then remove the tree and re-hang the wires in order to restore service to the remaining customers. We estimate being able to get that done about 5 p.m.

We’ve heard some are getting power back already, as we publish this.

On this stormy night, more than 2,000 homes and businesses are without power in White Center, South Park, and eastern West Seattle. City Light‘s map shows the extent but does not mention a specific cause yet, saying only as of right now, “investigating.”

5:13 AM UPDATE: SCL now says a tree is to blame for the outage.

6:06 AM UPDATE: The map now shows everyone’s back on (please let us know if you’re not!).

(7:07 am screengrab of City Light map showing where the outage is affecting homes/businesses)
Seattle City Light has more than 7,000 homes/businesses out of power this morning, mostly to the east and south of here, hitting Burien especially hard. It’s blaming a tree for falling on power lines and expects to have power back before the morning’s over.

Parts of White Center and elsewhere in North Highline are reported to be part of a Seattle City Light outage affecting almost 9,000 homes/businesses/etc. from West Seattle southward. (Parts of their coverage area to the north of Elliott Bay are out too.) It happened during a ferocious wind gust around 4:30 am. City Light is guesstimating repairs by 8:30 am. We’re continuing to cover on West Seattle Blog but you are also welcome to comment here if you’re out.

9:09 AM: We’re getting several reports of White Center outages, including 12th and 106th vicinity, while the wind is gusting. The National Weather Service has a wind advisory in effect for our area until 8 pm. Let us know via comments or whitecenternow@gmail.com if there’s trouble in your area.

9:54 AM UPDATE: Added a screengrab from the Seattle City Light outage map, showing the areas in White Center where the power is out. Around SCL’s service area, more than 8,400 homes/businesses are without power.

12:38 PM UPDATE: Looks like most if not all of the outage area is restored.

Repairs should be complete by now near 19th and 104th, where Seattle Public Utilities confirms a water main broke around noon today. SPU spokesperson Ingrid Goodwin confirms to WCN that three customers lost water service for a few hours; crews were scheduled to be on site until around 4 pm, backfilling the hole they had to cut to make repairs. Also from Goodwin: “It was a 6-inch cast-iron pipe that broke. And, we don’t know the cause of the break at this time.”

Seattle City Light is getting ready to switch to a new type of “two-way meter” involving wireless communication – no more human meter readers. It’s set up three community forums around its service area as well as a website for info and comments – the first forum is tomorrow; the third one, in Seattle’s Beacon Hill neighborhood on September 26th, is the closest SCL will get to White Center/West Seattle and vicinity. Here’s the utility’s official announcement:

Seattle City Light will host the first of three community forums Wednesday, Aug. 21, regarding the utility’s plans to replace its aging electrical meters with advanced meters that will provide two-way communication.

The forums will be one of the ways customers can share their thoughts and ask questions about the new meters during this early phase of the initiative.

Forums will be held:

North
Wednesday, Aug. 21, from 5 to 7:30 p.m.
Northgate Community Center – Multipurpose Room
10510 5th Ave NE

Downtown
Tuesday, Sept. 10, from 5 to 7:30 p.m.
Seattle Center – Shaw Room
305 Harrison St.
*Shaw Room is located on the corner of 1st Ave N and Republican St. (North of Key Arena)

South
Thursday, Sept. 26, from 5 to 7:30 p.m.
Seattle Housing Authority NewHolly – Gathering Hall
7054 32nd Ave S

Additionally, a website has been created where visitors can get information about the project and provide comments.

Seattle City Light has been converting streetlights to LEDs around its service area for a while, but the focus has been on non-arterial streets because of concerns about how the new lights would handle the needs of major streets.

Now, City Light is getting ready to start swapping out arterial lights too. We talked with SCL’s Scott Thomsen after we spotted a published notice about the call for bids. And he says the White Center business district will be one of the first places to get the new lights, by request of the WC Chamber of Commerce, starting sometime this fall, when 88 lights will be replaced there, as well as almost two-thousand elsewhere in SCL’s service area. Advantages of LEDs include that they last three times as long, use less electricity, waste less light on non-targeted areas (which means less “light pollution”), have a better “depth of field” so that more objects are illuminated, and show colors more truly.

ORIGINAL 6:48 AM REPORT: From Seattle City Light:

Seattle City Light Crews are responding to a power outage in Burien, SeaTac, and Riverton-Boulevard Park affecting 2,892 customers. The cause is not known at this time. The estimated time for restoration is 10 a.m. The outage started at 6 a.m.

You can see the boundaries here.

7:37 AM UPDATE: Some of the affected customers are back online, says SCL:

Seattle City Light Crews have restored power to 1,331 customers from an original outage affecting 2,892 customers in Burien, SeaTac, and Riverton-Boulevard Park. The outage was caused by a vehicle running into a pole. The estimated time for restoration is 10 a.m. The outage started at 6 a.m.

8:57 AM UPDATE: From City Light:

Power has been restored power to all but 43 customers from a 6 a.m. outage affecting 2,892 customers in Burien, SeaTac, and Riverton-Boulevard Park. The outage was caused by a tree landing on wires in the 15500 block of Second Avenue South. An earlier press release incorrectly said that it was the result of a car/pole accident.

Thanks to Athena at Meander’s for flagging us on this – it wasn’t on the Seattle City Light outage map till a short time ago: There’s a power outage in downtown White Center. 65 customers (one customer = one business or home) affected, says SCL. Might not be back on till 4 pm. Looks like it’s affecting the north side of Roxbury around 16th, 17th too.

Next week – on Tuesday, October 30th – Seattle City Light invites you to a meeting about a big project set to start along Ambaum. Here’s the info:

Seattle City Light will be upgrading the underground electrical system along Ambaum Boulevard SW starting in early November. As underground cables age, their protective insulation deteriorates. When a crack forms, and water or dirt reach the wires, it can lead to an unplanned power outage. Seattle City Light is working with a company called Novinium to help avoid such outages by using a silicone injection process to upgrade the cables. The silicone fills the cracks and extends the life of the cable and improves reliability for your electrical service.

Crews will be entering electrical vaults in the neighborhood and testing the cable to determine if the injection process can work. If the cable condition is satisfactory, crews will inject the silicone into the lines. If cables can’t be injected, they will be replaced at a later time.

Residents can expect:

-Planned power outages so crews can work safely
-Up to (but no more than) six planned outages and NOT on consecutive days
-Notification by door hanger the Thursday of the week before the outage
-Outages lasting about eight hours

Work will begin in early November and last approximately 27 weeks. Work hours are 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m., Monday-Thursday. There will be no work on Thanksgiving Day, the week of the Christmas holiday, or New Year’s Day.

There will be some traffic and parking disruptions in the immediate work area, but it will be carefully signed. Work is done at a vault and trucks move on after about an hour. Flaggers will be used where needed on residential streets. Crews will be careful to try to maintain access to driveways.

A community meeting is planned for Tuesday, October 30 from 7:00 – 8:00 p.m. at Mount View Elementary School, 10811 12th Avenue SW. Residents are encouraged to attend and ask any questions they may have.

Just in from King County:

King County Executive Dow Constantine and King County Councilmember Kathy Lambert today urged the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (WUTC) to conduct a thorough investigation into missed garbage, yard waste and recycling pickups in the unincorporated areas during a recent strike by haulers who work for Waste Management of Washington, Inc.

“I’m glad that Waste Management and its drivers were able to reach agreement, but we received many complaints from residents about missed pickups,” said Executive Constantine. “I urge the WUTC to conduct a thorough investigation and to use its regulatory authority to ensure that residents and businesses whose collections were disrupted are made whole.”

In separate letters to the WUTC – the governmental entity with legal authority over solid waste collection in unincorporated areas – Executive Constantine and Councilmember Lambert noted that Waste Management is entrusted with the vital public service of garbage, yard waste and recycling collection, and that thousands of residents, including those in unincorporated areas, were left without garbage and recycling pickup.

“It is important for customers in the unincorporated area to understand that King County doesn’t control waste collection services, because the State of Washington has the regulatory authority,” said Councilmember Kathy Lambert, who represents northeast King County areas served by Waste Management.

“We need to work very closely with the state Utilities and Transportation Commission to make sure our unincorporated area citizens have the same protections as those in cities, and that the same accountability measures can be applied to waste haulers. It also is important for those affected by service disruptions to get better information, and they need it right away,” added Lambert.

Drivers represented by Teamsters Local 117 who collect recyclables and food and yard waste, and who are employed by Waste Management, went on strike for eight days beginning July 25. Drivers represented by Teamsters Local 174 who collect garbage honored the picket lines and garbage also went uncollected.

Customers of Waste Management will be able to comment to state regulators at a public meeting Thursday on the impacts of the company’s recent labor dispute on solid waste and recycling collection services.

The WUTC will hear a presentation from the company regarding its strike response strategy at 4 p.m. and will take comments from customers at 5 p.m. on Aug. 9, in the Woodinville City Council Chambers, 17301 133rd Avenue NE, in Woodinville.

A text alerted us to an unexpected geyser in the Zippy’s Giant Burgers parking lot along 14th SW this afternoon … the folks we talked to there said some sort of power problem was involved. But for a while, it was just the thing for a warm summer afternoon … a temporary spray park!

Local utilities say there’s help for people who can’t pay their utility bills – but few people manage to get that help, because they don’t know it exists. That’s why Seattle Public Utilities and Seattle City Light are putting on a special event this weekend in West Seattle – find out about it here (and that link also will help you find out if you qualify for assistance).

(Photo by Deanie Schwarz)
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 West Seattle’s High Point neighborhood – and this time, a White Center problem was found, according to City Light’s online update. It’s at 1721 SW Roxbury Street [map] – photo above (right outside the Salvadorean Bakery building) and was found with 111 volts. The utility says a faulty ballast assembly was replaced; its contractors have finished inspecting more than a third of the streetlights and associated facilities in the system