Seattle: Sea-Tac Airport/Breaking; No Flights In Or Out

Due to the storm?

Must be Rev, Vancouver was a bleedin mess today, traffic lights, bridges, highways, buses, skytrain, ferries, all shut down.

We're suppose to get the edge of the system moving in tomorrow afternoon - snow Sat and Sun with 40mph wind gusts - but nothing like you guys are gettin up north.

I don't know, if I was them I'd be glad someone was there willing to sell gas even if it is gouging. Like the tow-truck drivers that sit at the tops of high passes and wait for people to go in the ditch and charge them $200 for a yank out. You're just glad they're there if you are the one in the ditch.

Sucks that the marginalized can't afford to be rescued though.

Another Katrina aftermath of New Orleans reminder.

[link to seattletimes.nwsource.com]
December 15, 2006

Sea-Tac shut down because of outage; other transportation notes

A power outage has shut down most air traffic at Seattle Tacoma International Airport.

The Federal Aviation Administration reported the outage at its station that monitors all air traffic within 25 miles of Seattle, according to Sea-Tac spokeswoman Rachel Garson. The airport has severely limited the number of planes allowed planes to take off or land since 4:20 p.m.

Most arrivals are being rerouted and most departures are being held. It's unclear when normal operations will resume.

Air, road, ferry and rail travel to and around Seattle is snarled because of the storm.
Here's a rundown of the impacts.

Sea-Tac Airport
There were extensive delays and cancellations during the busy 6.30-8.30 a.m. period and delays were expected to last throughout the day as the airport gets back to normal.

The power outages prevented many American and Delta flights from arriving at Sea-Tac in the early morning hours, which resulted in numerous morning cancellations.

"A lot of the morning, departures didn't happen, and that was either because they didn't have an aircraft here because it didn't land overnight or because they didn't have baggage handling, " said airport spokeswoman Rachel Garson. And "there were lots of delays."

American Airlines Spokesman Tim Smith said the airline cancelled all 22 of it morning and midday flights to and from from Sea-Tac Aiport Friday because of the high winds and power outages, leaving the airline with few planes on the ground at the airport.


"Nothing has operated so far," he said at midday on Friday.
Smith said the airline planned to send four or five jets to Seattle late this afternoon to shuttle stranded passengers to hubs in Chicago and Dallas/Ft. Worth, so they can make connections to their final destinations. Flight bookings were light Friday, which means many open seats may be available on flights due to leave Seattle later in the day, he said.
But Smith warned that if weather conditions deteriorate again tonight — a prospect relayed to him by the airline's forecasters — operations may be disrupted again.

"We feel like at this moment we can clear out most of the people who are still waiting" at Sea-Tac, Smith said.

The windstorm knocked out power to the south end of the airport's main terminal around 1.30 a.m. Friday, including ticketing counters, several baggage-claim carousels and the baggage handling area, as well as the A gates, where American and Delta airlines flights arrive and depart. The South Satellite, which his connected to the main terminal by a subway, also briefly lost power but electricity was restored with back-up generators, Garson said.

Garson wasn't able to give an estimate on the number of flights affected but said "thousands" of travelers were stranded Friday morning and delays were likely to last throughout the day as the airport returned to normal.

The airport called in extra staff to help deal with lines of stranded passengers, many of whom tried to book alternate flights on airlines that were operating smoothly. Employees handed out bottles of water to travelers, in part because many restaurants and shops also were without power.

Travelers should call their airline to check their flight's status before heading to the airport.
Travelers also can check the airport's real-time flight information online at [link to hosting.portseattle.org] general airport information and updates at www.portseattle.org/seatac

Roads
Roads are closed throughout Western Washington because of downed trees and washouts (although the Highway 520 floating bridge reopened this afternoon). Some of the major closures as of 11.30 a.m.
• Highway 2 eastbound is closed at milepost 49 (between Sky Lane and Beckler Road) because of debris on the road.
• State Route 524 eastbound is closed at State Route 9 because of debris on the roadway.

Get updates on road closures in the Seattle area and beyond through the Department of Transportation: www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/trafficalerts/ Or phone 511, the Department of Transportation's state-wide travel information line for roads and more.

In King County, an estimated 35 roads the county maintains are closed because of downed trees, and traffic signals are out in many areas because of power outages. The King County Road Services Division advised motorists to use extreme caution in driving and never to drive through deep standing water. Get details on King County road closures at: www.metrokc.gov/kcdot/roads/roadalert/

Some good news: the Hood Canal Bridge, Tacoma Narrows and I-90 bridge across Lake Washington all are open. And traffic on Interstate-5 was moving normally. However, many traffic Web cams around the Puget Sound area are not working because of power outages.

Ferries
High winds caused delays and cancellations of some state ferries. The ferry between Port Townsend and Keystone on Whidbey Island is expected to run late all day (it's on a storm route which adds about 15 minutes to each sailing). The passenger-only service between Vashon and Seattle was canceled Friday morning; it was hoped it would resume for the evening commute. Get updates at Washington State Ferries: www.wsdot.wa.gov/ferries/ To get information phone the statewide travel information line, 511, or phone 888-808-7977.

In Skagit County, car-ferry service to Guemes Island was halted after the county-run ferry broke loose from its mooring during the windstorm. The ferry drifted down Guemes Channel, but was retrieved and returned to its slip; it's expected to return to service this afternoon after being inspected for damage. More information: www.skagitcounty.net/ or 360-336-9400.

Amtrak
Amtrak has canceled all trains between Seattle and Portland on Friday because of weather-related problems, mostly mudslides on the tracks. However, Amtrak expects to operate trains on the route normally on Saturday. Get updates at www.amtrak.com or phone 800-USA-RAIL (say "agent" to bypass all the automated options and get a real person). Buses are being substituted for the trains between the two cities.

Amtrak's Coast Starlight train arrived early Friday morning about a dozen hours late on its route from the Los Angeles area to Seattle. However, service between Seattle and Vancouver, B.C. was operating normally on Friday.

.

Still have a broken heater but got plenty of firewood and picking up another small load tomorrow morning before anything rolls in.

Plus - no plans on going anywhere till Monday anyway and a full tank of gas.

stop it!

that bold font makes me afraid!

NOT

A few gallons of water would be useful along with some "energy" food, ie. dried fruit bars and chocolate.

Great idea Prof R.

(Alright, I will stop with the BOLD fonts.)

Sounds like a case for the Millennium group, better call Frank Black!

>>>they just said that there was ONE guy selling one gallon cans of gas for $10. Washington State Attorney General says that if people will buy it, then it is alright, just as long as it is not a "Gas Station" that is "Gouging" people.


I just bought a plastic one gallon can for gas--cost $5--so add $2+ worth of gas, and !10$ doesn't seem like enough profit to smell like gas for.

Buy and sell, free enterprise, it's the American way.
You think that horde of umbrella hustlers that appears on the street downtown when it rains aren't making money on those $5 umbrellas?

n Seattle, hundreds of thousands of gallons of sewage mixed with rainwater was flushed into Puget Sound after two critical parts of King County's wastewater system were damaged and overwhelmed by flood runoff.
Major roads, including the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge and Hood Canal Bridge reopened after periodic closures.
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The storm caused an unusual amount of damage the region's power infrastructure. Dozens of transmission lines — the large power lines that transfer power from dams and other sources to neighborhood substations — were knocked down in the storm, said Dorothy Bracken, a spokeswoman for Puget Sound Energy.
PSE had dispatched a helicopter to pinpoint where trees had cut the transmission lines. PSE said it needed to assess those failures before targeting "feeder" lines that flow out from substations to neighborhoods.
Seattle City Light said a typical storm downs two or three feeder lines. Last night's storm cut 65; 49 were still not working this afternoon, said spokesman Peter Clarke.

[link to seattletimes.nwsource.com]

Seattle airport shut down on the 1st day of Channukah, after they refused to put up a Menorah...
They should have listened to the rabbi.

Guess so.

According to the biblical observed calendar, Hanukkah is next month.

I live just south of Seattle and the power went out around 9pm last night and just came back on 2 hours ago. well 24 hours without power sure sucked.

Surely that is too strange to be just a mere koinky dink.