More than 6,800 West Seattle customers lost power early Tuesday morning when multiple trees fell into power lines, marking the second significant outage in the area within six days.
The outage began around 2:17 a.m., primarily affecting north West Seattle residents. Seattle Fire Department crews responding to the 4800 block of 26th Avenue Southwest discovered “multiple trees, multiple lines” down and warned Seattle City Light that restoration would be “a big job.”
The incident also involved a split utility pole in the 4700 block of 25th Avenue Southwest, compounding the damage to electrical infrastructure. The power loss affected a pump station, potentially reducing water pressure for some customers in addition to the electrical service disruption.
Power restoration began relatively quickly for some customers, with reports of electricity returning by 3:01 a.m. Seattle City Light’s outage map showed fewer than 300 customers still without power by 3:06 a.m., mostly concentrated in North Delridge with a smaller pocket of 16 customers affected near Alki.
The timing mirrors a similar outage that occurred last Wednesday around 2 a.m., when a tree fell into power lines south of The Junction, affecting approximately 4,800 customers. Both incidents occurred during early morning hours and involved tree damage to electrical infrastructure.
For West Seattle residents, the recurring outages highlight ongoing challenges with tree-related power disruptions in an area with mature tree coverage and overhead power lines. The rapid restoration for most customers demonstrates Seattle City Light’s emergency response capabilities, though the initial scope affecting nearly 7,000 customers represents a significant community disruption.
The incidents underscore infrastructure vulnerabilities where natural tree growth intersects with utility systems, creating maintenance challenges that can affect thousands of residents when problems occur.
