SEATTLE — November 24, 2025 — Seattle City Light says a broken piece of hardware on a power pole is to blame for a major outage that cut electricity to nearly 3,000 homes and businesses in southwest West Seattle on Sunday, November 23. Power was restored in stages over roughly six and a half hours, with the last customers back online early Sunday evening.
According to utility data and local reports, the outage swept across neighborhoods from Arbor Heights and Sunrise Heights to Roxhill, South Delridge and parts of North Shorewood, briefly plunging shopping hubs like Westwood Village and the Roxbury Safeway into partial darkness.
What happened in West Seattle on Sunday?
Shortly before noon on Sunday, a large section of southwest West Seattle went dark. Westside Seattle reports that a power interruption hit at about 11:48 a.m., affecting 2,951 Seattle City Light customers. A few minutes later, West Seattle Blog noted that “almost 3,000” customers had just lost power, stretching from Arbor Heights to Sunrise Heights. westsideseattle.com+1
City Light’s outage map and automated alerts flagged the incident as a large outage centered in southwest West Seattle, with 2,951 customers initially impacted in areas including South Delridge, Roxhill and North Arbor Heights.
Radio traffic archived by local reporters shows that around the same time, the Seattle Fire Department was dispatched to investigate reports of “sparking and arcing wires” near the dead end of 31st SW in the 10200 block, close to Seola Pond and Grace Church. West Seattle Blog…+1
Where the lights went out
Outage boundaries published by Westside Seattle show a broad rectangle of impacted streets:
- North–south: from Myrtle Street SW down to SW 106th Street
- East–west: from 20th Avenue SW out to 47th Avenue SW
Within that footprint are several West Seattle neighborhoods and commercial areas, including:
- Arbor Heights and Sunrise Heights
- Roxhill and South Delridge
- Portions of North Shorewood and nearby unincorporated areas
- Retail centers such as Westwood Village and the Roxbury Safeway corridor
Local accounts noted that parts of Westwood Village kept operating thanks to backup power, while other storefronts had dim lighting or closed refrigerated sections. Residents described grocery stores with working checkout lines but dark aisles and taped‑off cold cases.
How long did it take to restore power?
The outage unfolded in phases through the afternoon:
- Around noon–1:00 p.m. – Residents across Westwood, Arbor Heights and nearby blocks reported losing power, some mid‑Seahawks game, while others saw flickers and surges before a complete shutoff.
- Shortly after 1:00 p.m. – West Seattle Blog and Westside Seattle both noted that power had been restored to more than 2,000 customers, leaving roughly 581 still without electricity in a smaller pocket nearer to the apparent fault.
- Mid‑afternoon – City Light’s alerts continued listing 581 customers out in neighborhoods such as Roxhill, North Arbor Heights and North Shorewood, with the cause still under investigation and no firm restoration time.
- Early evening – By about 6:15–6:30 p.m., City Light’s outage map and neighborhood alert feeds showed all remaining customers restored, and the utility confirmed the outage was over. West Seattle Blog’s timeline matches that window, noting a wave of “power just came back” messages followed by a map update indicating full restoration. West Seattle Blog…+1
In all, most affected homes and businesses were back online after roughly an hour and a half, while the hardest‑hit cluster waited up to six and a half hours, a pattern also highlighted in local coverage headlines.
What caused the West Seattle power outage?
Initially, both the City Light map and third‑party alert services listed the cause only as “equipment failure.” West Seattle Blog…+1
In a later social‑media update, Seattle City Light provided more detail, saying crews “were able to restore all 2,951 customers affected by the outage in the southwest Seattle area, which was caused by a broken cross arm on a pole.” Facebook+1
A cross arm is the horizontal piece of hardware that holds power lines on a utility pole. When it fails — whether from age, hidden damage, or stress on the line — it can drop lines or loosen connections, triggering arcing, flashes of light and immediate shutoffs as protective equipment trips. The reports of blue flashes and smoke near 30th SW and the 10200 block of 31st SW are consistent with that kind of failure, though the utility has not yet released a full engineering report on the incident.
There has been no indication from City Light so far that weather played a role in Sunday’s outage; unlike many past West Seattle blackouts, this one occurred under relatively calm conditions, without an active wind or snowstorm at the time.
How residents and businesses experienced the blackout
Comments collected by West Seattle Blog and posts on neighborhood forums paint a familiar picture of disruption mixed with improvisation:
- Fans watching the Seahawks game saw their TVs cut out mid‑play.
- Some households reported loud pops or booms outside, followed by flickering lights and then a complete loss of power.
- Neighbors near Barton, Roxbury and Holden described sirens and a visible flash near the Seola area as firefighters and City Light crews arrived.
- Businesses in and around Westwood Village operated with partial lighting or backup generators; shoppers at Roxbury Safeway were told chilled and frozen items were off‑limits while power was down.
On neighborhood apps, a few residents also used the outage as a reminder to prepare for larger emergencies — pointing out that if an earthquake or major storm takes down the grid, ATMs, gas pumps and many card readers would be offline. They urged neighbors to keep some cash on hand, avoid letting car fuel tanks run too low and keep phones charged when severe weather or other potential hazards are in the forecast.
Coverage and official updates as of November 24
By Monday, November 24, the West Seattle outage had moved beyond local blogs and into national news aggregators. A recap on SSBCrack News highlighted the scale of the blackout, the nearly 3,000 customers initially affected, and the ongoing focus on equipment failure as the likely cause, citing Seattle Fire’s response to arcing wires on 30th SW and the eventual restoration of power.
Seattle City Light’s own channels emphasized that:
- All 2,951 affected customers in southwest Seattle had been restored;
- The incident was linked to a broken cross arm on a pole;
- Crews completed repairs and brought everyone back online by Sunday evening.
As of Monday morning, the independent tracking site PowerOutage.us showed only a small number of Seattle City Light customers without power across the utility’s entire territory — a sign that Sunday’s West Seattle outage was fully resolved and not part of a broader ongoing event.
No citywide news releases specific to this outage had been posted by Seattle’s emergency management channels as of publication time, which is typical when an incident is localized, non‑weather‑related and resolved within the day.
How to check for outages and stay prepared
Seattle City Light encourages customers to use its online outage map and customer phone line to stay informed during events like Sunday’s blackout.
Key resources include:
- Seattle City Light Outage Map – Updated regularly with the number of customers affected, estimated restoration times and cause classifications.
- Outage reporting line: (206) 684‑3000 – Customers can call to report a loss of power or confirm whether their address is already listed on the map.
- Neighborhood alert systems – Services such as Nextdoor’s Power Outage Alerts repost City Light map data and push updates when outages are created or cleared in specific ZIP codes.
Safety and preparedness tips repeatedly shared by City Light, local media and emergency managers include:
- Stay well away from any downed or sagging wires; assume all lines are live and call 911 and City Light.
- Avoid using barbecues, camp stoves or generators indoors because of fire and carbon‑monoxide risks.
- Keep refrigerator and freezer doors closed as much as possible so food stays cold longer.
- Maintain an emergency kit with flashlights, batteries, a battery‑powered or crank radio, basic first‑aid supplies and any critical medications.
- Consider how you would charge phones or contact family if a larger, longer outage ever hit the region.
What’s next
For most residents, Sunday’s blackout is already fading into memory now that the lights — and the game replays — are back. But the incident underscores how a single piece of aging or stressed hardware, like a cross arm on a neighborhood pole, can plunge thousands into the dark with no warning.
Seattle City Light has not yet released a detailed technical breakdown of the failure, but the utility typically reviews significant outages to determine whether equipment needs replacement elsewhere on the system and how to prevent similar incidents. Any further findings, if published, are likely to appear on City Light’s official “Powerlines” news site or via future social‑media updates. Powerlines
In the meantime, Sunday’s event is a reminder to West Seattle — and the rest of the city — that being ready for the next outage, whether it lasts 90 minutes or six hours, starts long before the lights go out.
