The large lock at the Ballard Locks is still closed after being struck by lightning Sunday night. “We may be out the rest of the week,” Patricia Graesser with the Army Corps of Engineers tells us. It’s taking longer than the anticipated one day to restore the electrical system. The small lock is still open, allowing smaller pleasure boats through. Large ships, however, are stuck on either side of the locks until the power can be restored.
Large lock at Ballard Locks could be closed all week
![](https://www.myballard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024-My-Ballard-Tile-Ad-Troop-100.png")
I wonder what it was like down there for the people working at the locks when the lightning hit it? I’ve talked to guys that were working on a house that got hit, and they said that they could feel the shock wave of the strike through their boots! When you’re that close to a strike it doesn’t even sound like thunder, it’s just a tremendous “CRACK!”
So, the bridges will be down for a while, then?
Just looking on the bright side.
Sorry.. Sailboats go through the small locks all the time that require opening the 15th St bridge.