Update 1:30 am: City Light now says all but 280 customers have been restored. The outage was caused by a “faulty cable.”
Update 11:59 pm: A reader commented,
Power is back up here at W. Roy & 1st, but I have a friend who lives on Olympic Way W. & 10th and it’s still out up there.
She has a view of Magnolia and says it looks “lit up”.
Update 11:48 pm: Seattle City Light says crews have restored power to most of the 10,000 originally affected, but 1,417 still don’t have power in Queen Anne and Magnolia. They say the outage was caused by a faulty cable. The boarders of the affected area remain the same.
Update 11:44 pm: Power reported back on at Aloha between 2nd and Warren and at 13th Ave W. ColinAC says the fire blew three transformers and caught a Queen Anne basement on fire. He has video here.
Update: 11:32 pm: Power back on W Prospect, according to a reader.
Update 11:22 pm: Silver writes,
Now the fire department is getting multiple false alarms from the area near 15th W and 4th Ave West. They believe that these may be related to the power outages.
Update 11:15 pm: Seattle City Light now says 6,827 in Queen Anne and Magnolia are experiences power outages, caused by a faulty cable. As of no there is no time estimation for when power will be back on.
Update 11:01 pm: Summer D reports that power went back up at 11, but only for a few minutes and is now down again. She’s at 4th and Mercer.
A lot of people have said the power is flickering. Peggy Fitzgerald writes,
Power just sputtered on at 10:58 then off a minute later. My husband said he saw massive flashing in the sky by the PI sign -electrical arcing. He said it was bright enough to be
reflecting off all the buildings to the south. It stopped when the power went off again.Also the outage stops at mercer. Another bright flash as it tried to restart again and I’m hearing fire engines again to the south.
Update 10:25 pm: An anonymous tip says a fire at 8th and Galer has knocked out power in at least two blocks in all directions.
Seattle City Light has just sent out a press release stating that crews are responding to two power outages affecting 10,666 customers in Queen Anne and Magnolia. The causes of the outages or the estimated times for restoration for both are unknown.
The first outage affects 6,656 customers in Queen Anne. The boundaries are: West Barrett Street to the north, West Harrison Street to the south, Taylor Avenue North to the east and 11th Avenue West to the west.
The second outage affects 4,010 customers near the Magnolia neighborhood. The boundaries are: West Emerson Street to the north, West Mercer Street to the south, Taylor Avenue North to the east and 32nd Avenue West to the west.
Silver posted in our forum,
Just heard on my scanner: ten to fifteen minutes ago a transformer blew outside the house at 812 W. Galer. About ten minutes after that, residents noticed smoke in their basement and called it in.
When fire arrived on scene they radioed the dispatcher that there was a smell of smoke in the area. Now they are getting reports that other basements in the area are smelling like smoke.
They also linked a map of the location of the fire.
One of our readers says they saw a flash before the power went out. Summer D writes,
Power went out at 9:20pm on 4th Ave W and Mercer. Bright flash in the sky, couple of surges, then poof.
The outage seems to be pretty extensive this time. Peggy Fitzgerald writes,
Have no power on 2nd West by Kinnear and Prospect. It appears to go down the hill to the
water. Bartells and Met Market both have no power. QFC over near Mercer is closed too.
9:50 pm: Four readers have reported yet another power outage on Queen Anne tonight.
Apparently power went out around 9 p.m. and is reported down at 5th Ave W just north of Howe, 11th & McGraw, Queen Anne Ave, Comstock and Prospect. Sirens were heard racing up the hill at 9:40.
There is no information on Seattle City Light‘s website or informational hotline (206-684-7400) as of now. While waiting to talk to a representative to report the outage I was disconnected and told their customer service center was closed (hours 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.)
The number provided for electrical emergencies is (206) 706-0051. As there have been no reports of the outage so far, if you have any further information (and have a power supply) please comment or email us at tips@queenanneview.com and maybe we can figure out how far this outage extends.
Thanks to Josh Pollock, Megan Muir, Anna Petrocco and Stephanie Ellis-Smith for tipping me as soon as you lost power!
