Seattle City Light reports that about 470 customers were without power earlier today.

Marianne wrote to tell us that Fred Meyer and Greenwood Market on 85th Street were both without power, and that Greenwood Market couldn’t sell anything because the cash registers were affected.

I just called Fred Meyer and a clerk told me the power went out about 11:45 a.m. and was restored about an hour later. Greenwood Market’s power is also back on.

The early morning wind split off part of a cedar tree that fell on two houses in the 100 block of NW 78th Street at about 3 a.m.

A Seattle Fire Department crew had the street taped off to traffic, as the downed tree is resting on power lines.

Al and Jenny, who live in the house you can sort of see in this picture, said everyone is OK. Al said they heard “a crack and a crash. I thought it was lightning.”

They obviously weren’t too happy about the situation, but “as long as no one was hurt. That’s the important thing,” Al said.

A KING news crew arrived just as I was leaving and they might have better pictures since their camera has a light on it.

Thanks, Silver, for the tip!

Update 8:45 a.m.: Here’s what the two houses look like this morning.

Crews were busy cutting up the tree on the house on the right.

A lightning strike shortly before midnight took out power to about 2,600 customers in our area, according to Seattle City Light.

The outage stretched from North 70th Street on the south to North 123rd Street on the north and Corliss Avenue on the east to 8th Avenue NW on the west.

Our power was out for about two hours. How about you?

A garbage truck struck some branches and/or a power pole which took out some power lines on Aurora Avenue shortly after 5 a.m. near North 84th Street, prompting the closure of Aurora Avenue.

It appears the accident also apparently temporarily disrupted power, resetting our alarm clocks right about the same time. Did anyone else have their power go out?

The accident also explains the helicopter one of our readers reported circling near her house. According to this story, KIRO’s was over the scene.

We’re wondering if this is one of the new larger trucks, one of which sprayed natural gas after clipping some limbs in April on Phinney Ridge, and another which totalled a Ballard garage.

A 2 p.m. power outage affecting as many as 4,300 customers is reaching into the northeast corner of Greenwood.

According to Seattle City Light, the outage boundaries are NE 125th on the north, NE 92nd on the south, 34th Avenue NE on the east and Fremont Avenue North on the west.  

It’s the largest of several outages, all believed to be due to falling tree limbs. For updates on the status of any outages, see Seattle City Light’s Web site.

A bird knocked out power to about 4,000 customers in Fremont, Wallingford and southern Phinney Ridge for about 45 minutes this morning.

Seattle City Light spokesman Scott Thomsen says the goose touched two wires at once at about 9 a.m. “When that happens, it creates a new circuit through the bird,” Thomsen said. “There wasn’t much left of the bird.”

Those most likely to come home to digital clocks blinking “12:00″ were between North 39th Street to North 53rd Street between I-5 and 3rd Avenue NW.

Homes along 73rd St. near 6th Ave. are currently without power (3 p.m.), thanks to the windy weather. We’re checking with Seattle City Light to learn more…

Update: Seattle City Light says there are 8,500 customers without power throughout Seattle. There’s no estimate of when the power will be restored, but they said they have additional crews on duty. If you see any wind damage or have any more information, please email us at tips@phinneywood.com.

Update 2: Shortly before 6 p.m., power came back on in the Phinney Ridge area that was part of a 2,600-customer outage stretching from North 70th to North 123 Street, and 8th Avenue NW to Corliss Avenue. No word from City Light yet on whether all of the affected area again has lights and heat.

Update 3: It’s 9:24 p.m. and the Phinney/Greenwood outage has been dropped from Seattle City Light’s report of ongoing outages. Here’s some roundups on the outages: KOMO, KING, KIRO.

A number of homes in Phinney Ridge, as well as businesses such as Ken’s Market, lost power for about an hour Friday afternoon.

Residents returned home to blinking clocks and Ken’s had to shut its doors due to the outage. A clerk at Ken’s told us later they made sure to keep all the freezer doors shut so frozen food wouldn’t melt.

We’re trying to track exactly where the outage was. Let us know if you lost power.

For everyone who saw blinking 12:00s on their clocks this morning, a broken insulator is to blame for a power outage overnight in northern Phinney Ridge and a swath of Greenwood, according to Mike Egan at Seattle City Light.

Power went out at 11:04 p.m. Thursday from 76th to 105th streets and Fremont Avenue and 8th Avenue Northwest. A total of 1,924 customers lost power. Eight minutes later, City Light rerouted the power grid to bring 40 percent back on line. The remaining 1,054 customers had their power restored at 5:49 a.m.

Egan said insulators sometimes crack over time. This one met its demise at about NW 82nd Street and 8th.

Christine brought this one to our attention, asking whether it was due to tree branches or “another suicidal raccoon.”