The lights flickered once before everything went dark at UPrep, a result of one of the biggest wind storms in Seattle’s history. On Tuesday, Nov. 19, gusts of wind reached up to 70 miles per hour in some places, and more than 640,000 people in Western Washington were without power the next day, according to the Seattle Times.
Additionally, some flights at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport were rerouted during the height of the storm, according to the Seattle Times. This large storm, called a bomb cyclone, caused the most power outages since 2006, according to KOMO News.
The storm even disrupted after-school activities at UPrep. The cast of the musical “Spamalot” was in the middle of a dress rehearsal when UPrep lost power.
“The lights flickered and then shut down,” senior Rory Cox-Hultquist said. “At first, we thought that the lighting crew had messed up their cue. Then someone turned on a big flashlight. And I was like, ‘Ok, so the power is out everywhere at school.’”
According to Robert Thom, the director of facilities, the power went out at about 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday.
“We had gotten through about 20 minutes of the show at that point. And then that was it,” Cox-Hultquist said.
James Johnson, the varsity boys basketball coach, said the team was just wrapping up their tryouts when the power went out.
“Man, the lights just shut out,” Johnson said. “They shut the lights out on us.”
UPrep closed for the day on Wednesday, Nov. 20 because the school still did not have power.
“When I had texted Ronnie at four in the morning and we had not gotten power back, that’s really when the decision went out to everybody to say, ‘Look, we can’t operate the school in the dark,’” Thom said.
In addition to the cancellation of all classes, the opening night of the musical and sports practices couldn’t take place.
As the director of facilities, Thom was monitoring the Seattle City Light maps to look at the power outages.
“The power came back to the ULab in the middle of the afternoon on Wednesday, and then power was restored to the main building at around 5 p.m. on Wednesday,” Thom said.
UPrep was not the only school closed on Wednesday due to power outages.
Schools like Lake Washington, Nathan Hale and Bellevue were all closed for the day as well.
As Britten Nelson, associate director of college counseling, drove to her book club, she came across a large tree that had fallen on a car.
While surveying the scene, Nelson found out that the driver was alright, but the passenger was stuck in their seat and couldn’t get out because the tree had severed the back of the car.
Medical personnel showed up to assist in getting the passenger out of the car. While driving away, Nelson was relieved everyone was ok but still rattled at how severe this storm was.
“I was like, gosh, that could have been me,” Nelson said.
Thom has lived in Seattle his whole life and was surprised at all the damage and power outages that occurred due to the bomb cyclone.
“[The storm] was probably the biggest that I’ve seen living here for 57 years,” Thom said.
