About 3,100 residents throughout the Union Hill area spent Tuesday evening — and for some, early Wednesday morning — without electricity after a power line fell along Northeast Novelty Hill Road near 212th Avenue Northeast outside of Redmond just before 5 p.m.
Ray Lane, a spokesperson for Puget Sound Energy (PSE), said power restoration for customers ranged from 30 minutes after the outage to about 6:15 a.m. on Wednesday.
He said the line fell when an “alley arm” — a T-shaped pole that holds power lines — failed and sent the wire to the ground.
“It happens every now and then,” Lane said. “It’s not commonplace.”
He added that PSE is still looking into the cause of the failed alley arm.
Laura Gatens, who lives on Redmond Ridge, said due to the power outage, many businesses on Redmond Ridge were forced to close early, including the QFC, McDonald’s and banks. She said at Kiddie Academy, where she works, they had to get the kids out of the building quickly since they didn’t have air conditioning.
When she got home after work, Gatens said the power was still out, and with the hot weather, it made things uncomfortable — especially since she lives on the second floor of her apartment building and heat rises.
While things may have been unpleasant, Gatens said she understands that it would take a while to get the power back up after a line falls.
“It is what it is,” she said.
Gatens’ power came back around 9 p.m.
The downed line caused a small brush fire, which was quickly put out when crews from the Redmond Fire Department (RFD) arrived on the scene. There were no injuries.
In addition to RFD, the King County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO) also responded. Spokesperson Cindi West said the fallen line stopped traffic on Northeast Novelty Hill Road in both directions and KCSO helped with traffic control until PSE flaggers arrived around 7 p.m. She added that the road was closed between 208th Avenue Northeast and 214th Avenue Northeast.
Gatens said the road closure made things difficult for drivers as Northeast Novelty Hill is one of the only direct roads to the area from Redmond.
“People couldn’t get off the ridge and people couldn’t get on the ridge,” she said.
Gatens said when she drove to Redmond around 8:30 p.m. for dinner, the road was still closed and she had to go around and take State Route 202 as an alternative. The road was still closed around 9 p.m. when she drove back home.
“We had to go the back way again,” she said.
Mike Costello, who lives just north of Redmond Ridge on Union Hill, said the road was still closed around 4:30 a.m. Wednesday when he had to drive to work — making it almost 12 hours from when the power line fell.
“It’s kind of a big deal,” he said about the closure, pointing out that Northeast Novelty Hill Road has been a two-lane road for 15 years even though the area’s population has been on the rise due to development.
Costello said Northeast Union Hill Road, an alternative road in the area, is not really equipped to accommodate the heavy traffic either as it is only two lanes all the way to Redmond Ridge, adding that Tuesday’s road closures likely tripled the amount of cars taking that route.
