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Sunday, Oct. 24 Wind Event Update

We’ll continue to update this post as we have more information

10/26 5 p.m. update: After over 48 hours of nonstop work to clear fallen utility poles, power lines and trees along East Marginal Way South, Seattle City Light (SCL) and Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) crews have completed clean up and safety work necessary to reopen the South Park Bridge. The bridge and portions of East Marginal Way South necessary to access the bridge opened at 3:45 p.m., but East Marginal Way South southeast of 16th Ave S will remain closed overnight due to damaged traffic signal equipment in Tukwila. SDOT and Tukwila Public Works are working closely together to respond to the situation.   

City Light crews continued working over Monday night and as of 8 a.m. Tuesday morning, had restored power to all but 18 customers impacted by Sunday and Monday weather events. Those customers have all been restored today.

10/25 5 p.m. update: Crews have continued to work the scene today where 15 poles came down along East Marginal Way South. To reopen the South Park Bridge to traffic as soon as possible, we are prioritizing clearing on the north end between 14th Avenue South through the intersection at 16th Avenue South and the bridge. Once cleared, we will need to restore power to the traffic signals. This afternoon, the wind was too great for our crews to safely work in the elevated buckets; they will return this evening to resume this work. We will provide updates here when available.

10/25 11:30 a.m. original post:

The wind event on Sunday, Oct. 24, caused widespread outages throughout Seattle City Light’s service territory. At the evening peak, we saw about 44,000 customers impacted. We had more than 15 crews, including about 85 line workers responding; a typical number as we have had with similar weekend events.

With these widespread events – more than 100 individual outages around the service area – we have lots of ground to cover to locate the area of impact, which can extend restoration times beyond what is typical when there is only a single or handful of outages.

City Light focuses on addressing life/safety issues first and making repairs where we can restore the largest number of customers at a time. However, restoration times can vary greatly due to individual conditions, e.g., if crews must wait for a tree to be removed or if the crew onsite needs to wait for additional equipment for the necessary repair.

Crews were out in the field working throughout the night. As of 7 a.m. Monday morning, we’d restored all but about 4,300 customers. By 11 a.m., fewer than 2,000 customers were still without power. (Please note, the outage map was not updating properly earlier today so it showed much higher numbers than actual customers experiencing an outage. This appears to be resolved. We apologize for any inconvenience.)

We’ll continue working until everyone is restored. We appreciate everyone’s patience.

East Marginal Way Response

During the Oct. 24 event, 15 poles along East Marginal Way South failed. Crews continue working to clear the road so it can reopen to traffic; at this time, this work is expected to last into Tuesday mid-day. See also, the Seattle Department of Transportation’s updates on road closures following Sunday’s storm.

These poles, located north of the stretch of poles that failed during a 2019 incident, were last inspected in August 2021. Three poles were identified for replacement and were in the process of being designed and permitted for replacement. As we clear the road, we are transferring the poles and equipment to a location for further inspection.