West Seattle, Washington
27 Tuesday
No major traffic trouble spots in Seattle so far this morning; here’s the list of outlying King County roads still having trouble (including one on Vashon), and if you have to drive outside King County, the state has a handy list of what’s up elsewhere on this page (including that big I-5 shutdown in Chehalis). ALLSTAR FITNESS UPDATE: Just called to check (in the wake of all that water in all those photos further down the page) — they ARE open today. ADDED 6:45 AM: Here’s the latest city press-release roundup of trouble spots (says all the ones here in WS are open again).
As former apartment-dwellers, we particularly appreciate balcony brightness – and you can find a lot of it around West Seattle, especially along Harbor and Alki – but this trio of balconies is from California Avenue just south of Morgan Junction. We’re still scouting for lights and happy to get your suggestions; besides the new archive of featured lights, we also have created a map locating every place we’ve shown – click on each marker and you’ll see its location as well as a thumbnail photo. We’ll continue to update the map as each night goes by. (One more holiday note – it got a bit lost in the weather coverage but we posted our annual West Seattle Christmas tree price check yesterday afternoon.)
Provided the weather calms down, we’ve got several WSB Reader Recommendation Requests to get out to you – tonight we start with this one from Chris:
My home computer is not working…mysterious colors flashing on the screen, no access to the desktop … anyone know a good computer technician that does home visits?
Wettest December 3rd in Seattle history — now it’s cleanup time. Though we hear another shower out there, the experts all insist the worst of the weather is over (the wind advisory, for example, expired at 7 pm). If your neighborhood’s still experiencing major flood woes, let us know. Meantime, there’s a lot of other West Seattle stuff we wanted to tell you about today – but the storm got in the way; we’ll just start fresh tomorrow. First, though, a photo that came in tonight from Teresa – the playground at Sanislo Elementary during the deluge:
7:15 PM UPDATE: Went through that area of Delridge, nothing going on. So cancel that alert. Heard a city worker on the radio say Beach Drive is open again at the slide spot; will be heading out to check on that.
5:55 PM UPDATE: Could be new trouble on Delridge. “Automobile rescue” callout just popped up on the 911 site, 3800 block of Delridge (south of Skylark). Drivers heading that way, beware.
5:45 PM UPDATE: Steve reports: “Just got home (Gatewood) from SODO. First Ave S. and the high bridge were wide open.” Steve also notes that the Nucor mill is “completely dark”; we reported earlier that it had closed because of flooding – Margelyn also e-mailed earlier that she heard a radio-show caller say there’s a lot of water in Nucor’s basement and it might be closed a while; we’ll be checking on that but would also love to hear from anyone with firsthand updates.
5:09 PM UPDATE: OK, said team member has made it home. Summary: Not raining right now. Smooth sailing on The (high) Bridge, and beyond. Thinks maybe lots of people went home early. P.S. Check below in a few minutes for some added pix of today’s Delridge Deluge … we’ve received more, but don’t want to put them atop the commute info here till everyone’s home safe, so the post will be filed just BELOW this one.
4:42 PM UPDATE: Team member who’s heading home via The Viaduct says the left lane is closed for a stretch parallel to the south end of the waterfront (Coast Guard station on) so things are a little squeezed. Bridge update to come. Remember to scroll down for cam links and more.
4:15 PM UPDATE: First commute-home report from Vickie, who was worried about the Spokane St./Chelan Cafe’ area, but says Spokane “under the Harbor Ave offramps and to the north of Nucor doesn’t appear at this time to have any flooding troubles” — she says the low bridge, through that area, and up Avalon to 35th was all in good shape. (We have a WSB team member heading from downtown toward Morgan Junction soon and will have that update for you in a bit.) For those wondering about West Marginal Way – no trouble reported so far – here’s the city cam link.
4:10 PM UPDATE: Here’s a new press release from the city; it mentions that southbound lanes of the Battery Street Tunnel are closed, so if you get on 99 south of there, beware. No other West Seattle specifics aside from the Longfellow Creek flooding we have covered below.
3:35 PM ORIGINAL POST: We are gathering resources for drivers to check before heading back to West Seattle from workplaces elsewhere. First – so far as WS roads go – a recap of specific situations we have reported on further down the page: Remember that North Delridge has been the hardest-hit area (see photos and video below) – if you have to get to somewhere on Delridge, going around and approaching from the south is likely your best bet. Along Beach Drive, the mudslide’s not cleared yet (thanks to WSB sponsor Rhonda Porter from The Mortgage Porter for that update – she says on the north side, Beach Drive is closed at Jacobsen). For other roadway, here are some links to start with – we will add more info as we get/find it, including any reports you send about driving conditions:
WSB traffic-info page with cameras of particular WS relevance
All Seattle city traffic cams
All state DOT traffic cams
KIRO Radio continuous online regional traffic-incident info
Traffic.com regional traffic-incident info
Regional Public Information Network (RPIN) site with regional road closures and more
Alerts for roads managed by King County
Washington State Ferries service bulletins
Yet more photos coming in from Longfellow Creek, Allstar Fitness, and environs; we don’t want to add them atop the commute info, since that’s the most important stuff for a while longer, so we’ll be adding them one by one here; keep scrolling down to check. First, from Tim — along the creek, near SW Genesee, close to the 13th hole of West Seattle Golf Course:
From Kathy, another look at Allstar Fitness, awash in floodwater (let us know if you hear whether it plans to reopen tomorrow; we’ll check in the morning too):
Chris M also sent us this link to some good shots in his Flickr gallery.
ADDED 2:25 PM: “The creek has burst free!” reports Kristin, who took these photos on Juneau between Delridge and 26th, and says 26th is closed.
2:12 PM: Mike actually captured the fabled “car swamped to its roof” we heard about in the lot at Allstar Fitness (2:38 PM UPDATE: reader reports, it IS closed because of the flooding) – that’s the car in the background:
Thanks again to everyone who’s sending WSB info and pix to share. ADDED 3:50 PM: Yet another picture of the now-iconic flooded car at Allstar, this time from Lea Kuchan:
As mentioned below, Beach Drive is blocked by a mudslide in the 6000 block. 1:40 PM: Photo just in from Dawson (thank you!), who confirms this is close to the area where the city granted a permit for slope-side trees to be cut earlier this year (previous WSB report here):
Here’s our photo, from a bit closer up:
Though we are devoting 99% of WSB to storm reports today (please e-mail us anything you’ve seen/heard), this just came in as a comment on last week’s peeper thread, and we wanted to make sure you knew:
Seems the same peeper struck our neighbors last night 12/2/07 3800 block of 49th Ave SW.
There was a peeping Tom outside our neighbors houses off & on for about 2 hours last night. Neither house knew of the other’s peeper until about 10:00 pm. Apparently he had ‘visited’ one & watched while the couple were hot tubbing a couple of hours earlier, ‘visited’ the neighbors kid’s room window across the street & waved at him about an hour after the first visit, & then back to look into the hot tubber’s bedroom about an hour after that. At about 10:00 is when the kid saw him return to 1st visit’s house & notified his dad. Needless to say, the police came shortly.
Unfortunately, not much could be I.D.’d. ~ 5′9″ – 5′ 10″, slender build, all in black ( or at least dark clothing).
Police have stated & my husband has read that he has been around the neighborhood for about 5 weeks now and his territory seems to cover from Admiral to Genesse & from 45th to 53rd.
My observation: it was pouring rain for those few hours. The person is either persistent with foul weather gear or lives close enough to go home & dry the clothes before going back out.
Some WSB readers still might not be able to post comments because of our ongoing tech work but if you are seeing this – you should be able to – and Cali in Seaview would appreciate advice:
> We are looking for a good service to call to help us with our basement flooding. We have tried everything all morning, it is not stopping. I am sure there are other people going through the same thing. Any help would be much appreciated.
Included in this city press release: a report of a slide closing Beach Drive in the 6000 block. (map here)
(Please scroll down to the bottom of this post for the latest info; today we are updating in chronological order rather than reverse chronological) Can’t say this often enough: If you don’t HAVE TO drive, don’t. The water’s accumulating faster than even the best drains can handle it. Looks like bridge access from Delridge to the high bridge is back; the Fauntleroy/Graham trouble spot is open but the water is very tricky to navigate – here’s photographic proof:
Please e-mail us with info on any flooding trouble you are experiencing or seeing, so we can share it. Newest note is from Greg Daly, who says:
We had 4″ of water in our basement this morning due to a plugged up drain,
so I thought readers might be interested (as I was) in local weather stations. There are two between Lincoln Park and Alki, you can watch the rain totals update live if you’re so inclined.
Here are the weather station links Greg mentioned: first one here, second one here. 11:07 AM UPDATE: From Vickie:
I was driving to work about an hour ago trying to figure out which way to go through Delridge…the Allstar Fitness parking lot is completely flooded to the point where at least one car is totally submerged, you can just barely see its rooftop in the lower part of the lot. At the time I drove through the water in the lot was almost equal to the side street next to it and beginning to overflow into the street itself.
11:10 AM UPDATE: The WSB team member who’s currently roving with cameras verifies this, says the creek is definitely spilling over in spots, and also says the street is closed by Nucor/Allstar, and that someone at Nucor told him the plant is closed too (if anyone has info to the contrary, please e-mail us; we’ll try confirming by phone as well). 11:50 AM UPDATE: From Erin: “Just got back from dropping my husband off at the airport – we had read earlier that W Marginal was flooded so we took the high bridge to I-5. There are long back ups (all the way to I-5) trying to get IN to the airport due to flooding, so please inform your readers to take 509/518 if that route is now open, or to leave plenty early.”
Traffic reports say you can’t get to The Bridge from Delridge because of deep water that even has a car stuck in it. Also, WSB reader “K†warns everyone to check their basements — after waking up to flooding woes. 6:43 AM UPDATE: Also, if you use the The Viaduct, alternates might be a good idea because the Battery Street Tunnel is reported to be closed. There is one slight bit of good news – the National Weather Service says the strongest winds today will be “mainly north of Seattle” — so looks like we are “only” going to have to deal with the rain. 7:13 AM UPDATE: It’s likely slow going no matter where you are coming from — part of our team is trying to make it to The Bridge on Fauntleroy and reporting a delay that starts around Graham — because of very deep water, with city crews on the scene. Going to try to divert to 35th; will let you know if trouble ensues there. 7:30 AM UPDATE: Gave up on the 35th idea, still slogging along Fauntleroy past ex-Gee/ex-Huling — here’s the city cam:
7:45 AM UPDATE: Longfellow Creek is “as high as we have ever seen it,” says one nearby resident. Radio traffic report says cars are backed up on Admiral trying to get to The Bridge, too. 7:55 AM UPDATE: Our team member made it to The Bridge and says the left lane is closed, eastbound, roughly parallel with where you exit for Admiral on the other side – looks like a stalled car, tow truck getting in place, traffic moving OK eastbound once you get past it. 8:05 AM UPDATE: Just in from a reader: “West Marginal Way is closed about half way between the bridge and 509 (and there are several very deep very wide puddles even before the closure). This closure hasn’t made the traffic reports yet as far as I can tell. I found this out the hard way this morning.” 8:35 AM UPDATE: Natashia just e-mailed, “Both lanes of northbound 35th are backed up to one road before Morgan. I turned around to head back home, and had to miss turning left onto my road because southbound lanes were traveling tight & aggressive. Be careful out there — and be nice!! :)” (Here’s the traffic cam for 35th, NB cars coming toward the camera) 9:05 AM UPDATE: We’re heading out to check on flooded spots. If you need to drive somewhere, this is one of the best updated lists of “incidents” that we’ve seen.
Sorry we couldn’t update this sooner; the tech upgrade mentioned earlier is still in progress (so still no new comments, sorry). Turns out this was a fatal accident. According to the Seattle Police media-info recording, a male driver and female passenger were in the car shown at left, speeding northbound on Fauntleroy, in the inside lane, when they tried to change to the right lane around 38th (near the main ex-Gee/ex-Huling showroom), lost control, hit a pole, then the pole snapped and fell on the car, almost instantly killing the driver, identified only as a Seattle man in his 20s. The woman, described by police as a 20-year-old Seattle resident, suffered only minor injuries. Police believe “weather conditions” were a factor as well as speed.
Big road closure there right now because of a crash. Listed on the 911 site as “automobile rescue” at Fauntleroy/38th, but two e-mails (so far; THANK YOU!) have told us the whole intersection is blocked off – we’ll be checking it out in person shortly but our posting is limited in the short run because of the tech upgrading that’s under way — breaking in just to mention this.
As mentioned below, we have a little upgrading to do – so till we tell you it’s done, comments are temporarily closed – anything you try to post in the meantime may get lost in the techno-ether. Stand by for an update later tonight, and thank you; if anything urgent comes up, you can of course reach us via e-mail.
Read the latest here — then go make sure you’re stocked up on batteries, etc. 4:30 PM ADDENDUM: Now there’s a flood watch too.
THIS IS OUR 2007 PRICE CHECK – FIND OUR WEST SEATTLE 2008 LIST HERE
Just back from making the rounds of every West Seattle Christmas tree seller we know of. (If we missed one – we’ll admit to not checking arterials east of Delridge to look for indies – please let us know and we’ll get out to scout it.) We chose a couple representative tree sizes for comparison’s sake – 5-6′ Noble Fir, 6-7′ Noble Fir, 5-6′ Douglas Fir. Here’s what we found, north to south, including any special notes – caveat, this is from an in-person survey conducted today; pricing changes certainly could happen before you make your tree-shopping trip:Read More
The bad news — starting around 5 pm tonight, we have to close WSB to new comments for a few hours, to facilitate some tech-upgrade work. The good news — if all goes well (cross your fingers), that work should take care of problems that have caused the site to load slowly for some people at some times, including us (meaning that sometimes it takes us a lot longer to publish something than it should), and it also should pave the way for more new features in the works, so that WSB can better serve you. But comment away for now … we’ll let you know when the PEOPLE AT WORK sign has to go up; just wanted to give you advance warning.
We don’t have any new info on the Avalon/Genesee (map) pedestrian/vehicle accident mentioned during our snow coverage yesterday afternoon; Christine, who was on the scene shortly after it happened, is wondering if anyone else does, and also is sending out thanks to Good Samaritans:
Curious to hear if anyone knows how the young woman who was hit by a van yesterday is doing – another passenger and i riding the #22 downtown were first ones at the scene. Within moments, more folks driving stopped to assist – two nurses also pulled over and we got out of their way so that they could help until the paramedics arrived. The girl who was hit must have lived close by – we called the girl’s home, and the mom arrived just as the fire trucks were pulling up. Any news would be appreciated- and thanks to all who stopped to help!
MONDAY 3 PM UPDATE – Another reader e-mailed us with some info:
A West Seattle High School student was hit by a car on Saturday not far from school, so I assume we’re talking about the same accident. The girl is undergoing surgery to repair her pelvis (which was broken in 7 or 8 places) today and has some cuts and broken ribs, too. She’s got quite a bit of recovery ahead of her, but hopefully she’ll be OK. I’m not going to share her name because I want to respect her privacy, and I’d prefer to remain anonymous, but I wanted to give what little information I have so that those who saw the accident (and helped!) aren’t left wondering.
Activities at Hometown Holidays in The Junction continue through 5 pm (full schedule here), including free photos until 2 pm with Santa Claus. (Those pix, taken by Erik Clineschmidt, are all online here.) We asked Santa if West Seattle’s been naughty or nice in ’07:
Santa also accompanied our video crew on a visit to kids making ornaments yesterday:
Back to today’s WS activities — tons of other stuff going on, all over town – it’s all listed in the latest West Seattle Weekend Lineup, including an artists’ show/sale this afternoon-evening at Ginomai (SW corner of 42nd/Genesee) and then tonight, right across the street at West Seattle Christian Church (just east of The Junction), a free concert (doors open @ 6:30) by the African Children’s Choir (donations will be accepted to help fight AIDS in Africa).
When we discuss community problems and challenges here on WSB, obviously we are all looking for solutions, and full of hope for the future. Hate to be cliche about it, but as that old song goes, “… children are our future.” Even if you’re not a parent or teacher – you can take action to boost our chances of a bright future, by helping more kids realize their full potential, and here’s one way: Be a tutor, 2 hours a week. Erica Ellis, volunteer coordinator for the Youth Tutoring Program, sent this alert:
The Youth Tutoring Program is looking for tutors in West Seattle!
YTP is a non-profit tutoring program that provides one-on-one academic support to students living in low-income housing. We operate five tutoring centers throughout the city. We are in great need of volunteer tutors at our High Point tutoring center located on 35th Ave. SW in West Seattle.
Tutors commit to one evening per week for two hours and work with one student at a time on homework, math and language arts skills. Available sessions are Monday through Thursday from 5:30-7:30 pm.
Many of our students cannot get the homework help they need at home and depend on our tutors for academic support!
Make a difference in the life of a child in your neighborhood. Apply today at www.ytpseattle.org or call 206-328-5659.
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