BARTOW COUNTY, Ga. (WGCL) — Georgia Power investigators returned to Plant Bowen Friday morning in hopes of determining what caused an explosion.
Four people received minor injuries in the blast that happened late Thursday afternoon about 50 miles northwest of downtown Atlanta.
Johnny Mitchell has a restaurant about two miles from the power plant.
“It shook the entire building. The whole building just rattled and you felt pressure inside,” said Mitchell.
Mitchell certainly wasn’t alone, but he is closer than a lot of people he heard from.
He was in his restaurant when the explosion happened and he said he originally thought something fell on his building. When he realized he was in the clear he was pretty sure where the sound came from.
“The first thing I thought of was, ‘Oh my God. I hope nothing happened at the plant,'” said Mitchell.
Moments later, he said the ambulances came rushing.
“We had ambulances from three counties coming in and when I saw the ambulance from Rome coming in I thought, ‘Oh my God, it’s bad.’ I was expecting the worst,” said Mitchell.
Luckily, the ambulances were just a precaution. Georgia Power said the explosion was major, but with very minor consequences.
A Georgia Power representative said part of the plant was shutting down when the blast, described as “mechanical in nature,” occurred in a generator.
As of Friday morning, the entire facility was shut down, but Georgia Power did not anticipate an impact on customers.
