Power restored at Cobb County jail
Jul. 26—Power was restored at the Cobb County Adult Detention Center shortly after 2 a.m. Tuesday, the Cobb County Sheriff's Office said.
On Sunday afternoon, the housing area known as the Towers began experiencing intermittent power disruptions, according to Sgt. Jeremy Blake, spokesman for the sheriff's office. Maintenance staff were called in to determine the problem. Shortly after, power was lost to some areas of the jail.
Maintenance crews located a water leak that apparently had damaged a power line, Blake said. The damage to the power line prevented the jail's emergency generators from supplying power to some areas as they are designed to do in emergency situations.
Vendor contractors and maintenance staff worked through the night and all day Monday to locate parts and make the needed repairs to safely restore power to the jail's tower area, Blake said.
"I would like to publicly recognize the efforts by our staff over the last 36 hours," Sheriff Craig Owens said in a news release. "Our staff came in early and stayed late to make sure every detainee was safe and taken care of. Even simple task(s) like delivering three meals a day required a team effort to complete. Our staff had to carry everything up and down multiple flights of stairs to make sure everyone's needs were met."
The power outage affected approximately 600 detainees in the jail's tower housing area. They were provided with continuous ice and water and deputies increased the frequency of safety and security checks. Extra medical staff were on standby in the towers in case of a medical emergency, according to Blake.
