The storm is here

Seattle City Light outages at 3:30pm

I drove from Shoreline to Kirkland at 2:30pm Sunday. The wind didn't seem so bad from inside the house, but it was very dramatic once I stepped outside. The street was already green with small branches and tufts of fir trees and the wind was roaring.

All the traffic lights were out on Ballinger, from Ballinger Village to Town Center. Fortunately, the light at Bothell Way was still functioning. Drivers were remembering to treat the dark intersections as four-way stops, but everyone seemed to be confused by left turn lanes.

I could see whitecaps on Lake Washington - I'm sure it has happened before but I have never seen it in Lake Forest Park. Waves were breaking on the beach at the Civic Club.

On Bothell Way heading into Kenmore, the right lane was blocked by LFP Public Works trucks who were just finishing clean up on the right hand lane. It looked like a tree had fallen on the roadway.

The power outage map looks like a duplicate of last week's storm, with trees down, many calls to City Light, and virtually the same areas without power.

The Seattle Times reports that the ramp on to northbound I-5 at 175th is partially blocked by trees.

--Diane Hettrick