According to the city of Mercer Island on the evening of Nov. 23, “Electricity has been restored to the majority of the Island, but we know there are some of you still without power service. Stay positive, we hope you’ll be back online soon.” Mid-Island pockets and on the south end have not had service restored.
Residents can stay updated on this Puget Sound Energy (PSE) link: https://www.pse.com/en/outage/outage-map
Island Crest Way has been fully reopened, and the city has lifted the shelter-in-place alert for impacted residents between the 7400 to 7800 blocks. Workers continue to clear the 9000 block of North Mercer Way, in addition to other areas of the Island.
Mayor Salim Nice and Deputy Mayor David Rosenbaum released a joint statement to the community on Nov. 23. It reads, in part:
“As our community continues to recover from the recent storm – one of the most challenging since our last major windstorm in 2006 – we want to acknowledge the hardship many of you have faced. We share your frustration and recognize the difficulty in communicating when our normal channels of phone and internet are not working. We are committed to working with our communications providers to collaborate on solutions moving forward.
“Thank you to everyone who has shown resilience during this emergency, including the Puget Sound Energy crews, out-of-state linemen, local contractors, and telecommunications teams who have worked tirelessly to restore our services. Your efforts are deeply appreciated. We are also grateful to our CERT volunteers, city officials, the Mercer Island Police Department, the Public Works Department, and Eastside Fire and Rescue for their swift action and dedication to our safety and well-being.
“The storm’s effects continue to linger in some of our neighborhoods. Your safety and well-being remain our top priority.”
To read the full statement and for more information, visit the city’s Facebook page.
‘We made the most of it’
Five days after the storm pummeled the Island, many residents gathered at the Mercer Island Harvest Market near Mercerdale Park to shop for produce, listen to music and engage with one another.
Karli Niehaus said that her family was without power until around the afternoon of Nov. 22, and they were relieved when their electricity was restored. Some of Niehaus’s friends on the south end of the Island were still without power at press time, and she crossed her fingers that it would soon be restored.
“It was tough. We have two young kids and so their school on the Island was also closed and so that was challenging. We made a little vacation out of it, went to downtown Seattle and got a hotel and had a pool to swim in. That was fun — we made the most of it,” she said.
When they returned home, the Niehauses — who don’t have a generator — had to toss out their food that sat dormant in the refrigerator. Afterward, they made a big Costco run and used the opportunity for a reset, Karli said.
Attending the market was a crucial part of their day, and Karli explained why: “I think the most stressful part was losing internet and phone coverage, just not being able to know what’s going on with our friends and family. So being able to be out here, being able to be in touch with people and be on the phone, everything’s just very important.”
Over at the community center at about noon Nov. 24, two residents accessed the internet since their service had yet to be restored as a result of the storm.
For more information on the city’s storm recovery, visit www.mercerisland.gov.
