Power pole falls on Seattle building amid stormy conditions Tuesday
Nov 9, 2021, 6:50 AM | Updated: Nov 10, 2021, 6:52 am
A power pole in Seattle fell through the window of a neighboring building. (National Weather Service, Twitter)
(National Weather Service, Twitter)
Heavy wind and rain brought down trees, closed roads, and cut power around the Puget Sound region Tuesday, and gusty conditions continued throughout the day.
Several utilities in Western Washington were reporting outages, with thousands of customers without power. One school district and several other schools closed Tuesday due to power outages.
Check school closures and alerts
As of 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, roughly 5,000 Seattle City Light customers were without power. Puget Sound Energy reported another 20,700 customers suffering outages.
Puget Sound Energy outage map
Seattle City Light
Snohomish County PUD
Tacoma Power
Power poles were knocked down in numerous Seattle neighborhoods, including one along Madison Street, west of Lake Washington Boulevard. KIRO 7 TV reports that the pole appeared to tip toward the street, then tip upside down, putting the base of the pole through a second-story window.
Some pictures from Madison Street just west of Lake Washington Boulevard in Seattle right after the heavy showers moved through earlier this afternoon. Pictures courtesy of a retired NWS Seattle lead forecaster. Stay aware out there today! #wawx pic.twitter.com/X3FATW8APd
— NWS Seattle (@NWSSeattle) November 9, 2021
Another pole was damaged at Northwest 75th Street and 39th Avenue Northwest. Authorities advise that anyone in the area avoid approaching downed poles while crews work on repairs.
Getting reports from @UrsulaKIROFM of a damaged power pole in Seattle at NE 75th and 39th Ave NE.
If you're in the area, be sure to avoid approaching the pole while crews work on repairs! pic.twitter.com/Gy9SvsxBDI
— MyNorthwest 🌲 (@Mynorthwest) November 9, 2021
Trees came crashing down in multiple places in Renton overnight, causing issues on roads. In the Benson Hill neighborhood, power lines came down.
In the Renton Highlands, a large tree came down at the Windsor apartment complex, not far from the QFC and Safeway in the area. The tree is pushing into the side of the apartment complex.
King County Road Services reported that parks of several roads were closed by downed trees Tuesday.
The windy weather overnight also caused a tree to come down near Big Finn Hill Park in Kirkland.
KIRO 7 TV viewer George Dremousis said the tree fell about 20 feet in front of his car. The tree appeared to have knocked down some power lines. According to Puget Sound Energy, there’s an outage in Finn Hill, with the epicenter near St. Edwards State Park.
Live power lines that came down closed a street in Kent, and a fallen tree blocked streets in Seattle’s Wedgewood neighborhood.
A home in the 7300 block of 39th Avenue Northeast in North Seattle caught fire after a tree fell onto power lines and there was an electrical surge into the home, according to the Seattle Fire Department.
Looking ahead
There will be a break in the action Tuesday night through most of Wednesday and there could be a little sunshine, too. There is a slight chance of rain Wednesday, but most areas won’t have any appreciable rain.
On Thursday, a warm front moves north with some light rain through the day at times. Heavier rain arrives Thursday night and persists through Friday, associated with an atmospheric river.
This will bring more than an inch of rain to lowland locations and more to the mountains with rain all the way up to 7,000 feet in elevation. This will cause river levels to spike, but we’ll have to see as we get closer if rivers could get close to flood stage. We could see some drier weather with just a few showers on Saturday, with increasing rain on Sunday.
By KIRO 7 News Staff and Meteorologist Nick Allard, KIRO 7 News
