4:32 AM: Thanks for the tips. 4,700 customers are out of power in (mostly) northwest West Seattle. More info to come ….
4:37 AM: Added above, a screengrab of the City Light map showing the outage zone. We haven’t heard an obvious cause yet. The power went out at 4:25.
4:48 AM: According to a commenter, the problem is at California/Hudson [map]. SFD and City Light are reported to be there.
5 AM: A similar footprint was affected by an outage on July 2nd – that outage was caused by a driver taking out a pole and lines at Admiral/47th/Waite – as well as another one July 24th blamed on an equipment problem (blown fuses) near 30th/Brandon. …
5:40 AM: The map now blames “equipment failure” for the outage. … Via Twitter/X, SCL verifies the “failure” happened at California/Hudson – “downed wire.”
5:43 AM: Some commenters are reporting their power’s back.
5:56 AM: The SCL map has finally updated to reflect that. 2,644 customers still out – will add the revised map, for the record, in a moment. (added) Here it is:
6:36 AM: Commenters say there’s at least a pocket around 47th/Admiral that’s still out, not shown on the map update. … That outage pocket is reported to include the 47th/Admiral signal.
6:46 AM: Thanks to Kevin Freitas, who keeps a continuous skywatching camera going, for sharing this video of how the sky lit up when the outage-triggering failure happened (a few blocks west of his residence):
Meantime, we looked further back in WSB archives. Before the three summer outages (including this one) with similar footprints but different causes, we had three other outages this year affecting thousands in West Seattle, all blamed on trees:
-1/13/23, 4,400+ out after tree came down in North Delridge
-2/3/23, 3,200+ out after tree came down (in wind) in North Delridge
-6/6/23, 3,300+ out after tree came down (in slide) on Harbor Avenue
(There were also several smaller but still notable outages affecting hundreds.)
7:10 AM: The SCL map has added back the Admiral area from which commenters were reporting “still out but not shown on map.” That brings the total out to 2,900+.
7:16 AM: Now that it’s light, our photographer went over to California/Hudson, where a City Light crew is working:
The wires/cables are by the stairway:
9:04 AM: Commenters and SCL report more restored – fewer than 300 still out.
10:47 AM: The map shows the outage entirely resolved. We’ll be following up with City Light for more specifics on the cause.
ADDED 3:49 PM: Here’s what City Light spokesperson Jenn Strang tells us:
CAUSE: The owl mentioned by commenter “Admiral” below was the actual cause, Strang says, in a chain reaction of sorts: “The owl contact outage at SW Walker St and 47th Ave SW resulted in the wire coming down at California and Hudson.”
FOOTPRINT: We asked how three outages with different causes, in different areas (though the owl at 47th/Walker is close to the 47th/Admiral/Waite crash scene at the heart of the early July outaage), wound up with pretty much the same footprint. Strang’s reply: “The footprint is similar because of how the infrastructure is laid out from that particular substation to the outlying feeders.” In some cases, she added, the footprint is affected when SCL has to de-energize an area for safe repairs, but in this case, the identical footprint was shown from the very start of the outage, long before repairs.
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