Plant Bowen Explosion Shook Building, Rattled Windows at Johnny Mitchell's Steakhouse

The owner of Johnny Mitchell's Smokehouse and everyone else in the restaurant on Covered Bridge Road near Plant Bowen knew when an explosion occurred Thursday afternoon.

"A little bit before 4 p.m. here at the restaurant we felt a large boom that shook the building, windows rattled, the entire building shook," said Johnny Mitchell from his restaurant just before 6 today.

Johnny Mitchell's Smokehouse is at 100 Covered Bridge Road in Euharlee, one mile as the crow flies but a three-mile drive to Plant Bowen, he said.

"It's terrifying. It's scary. We are just praying for those families," he said a few hours after the explosion.

As he was being interviewed, Mitchell said he saw ambulances coming from the plant.

"I am seeing ambulances leaving now that have been dispatched from Rome, from Redmond [Regional Medical Center]," he said. "Their lights aren't on, so that's a good sign."

But he said ambulances were dispatched to the plant from three counties, so he expects to hear bad news.

Mitchell said earlier in the afternoon the road leading to his restaurant was blocked off. There are subdivisions past his restaurant on the way to Plant Bowen, and by 6 p.m. people living in those subdivisions had been allowed to drive to them.

On a clear day he said you can see the plant towers from his restaurant, but on an overcast day like Thursday, it wasn't possible.

If the timing had been different, one of his employees might have been caught up in the explosion.

"We have a girl that goes over there every day. We take food over there every day," Mitchell said. "She got out about 2 o'clock today. Thank God she got out before anything happened and she's OK."

The restaurant owner said the people at Plant Bowen are good people who care about the community.

"The folks at Georgia Power are very caring. This local plant is phenomenal about how they care about the community and their employees, and I've seen that firsthand," Mitchell said.

He's made his restaurant available for the community, Georgia Power and public safety officials.

"We are here for the community. Anything they need, emergency operations people need, they are welcome to use our facility," Mitchell said.

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