$3M worth of flood damage to local jail

ESCAMBIA COUNTY, Fla. (WALA) - Crews are working at the Escambia County Jail to salvage any property they can following heavy rain and flooding over the weekend.

The jail’s basement was left underwater after flood levels surpassed its ceiling.

“First thing I thought of was Hurricane Ivan, minus the wind,”” said Sgt. Mike Ward with the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office.

The basement houses several important rooms including the kitchen, staff rooms, the facility's computer server, paper records, and the laundry facility.

Authorities said all the water pressure knocked out a wall in the basement as well.

Sgt. Ward said flooding caused $3 million to $4 million in damage, on the low end.

“It lost power. It's a concrete facility,” said Ward. “The walls started sweating. It'd run down onto the floor and the floor would start sweating. It gets hot and damp in there.”

The facility is running on generators with a high-powered cooling system.

Authorities are considering releasing non-violent inmates if there are additional power failures or conditions do not improve.

Sgt. Ward said judicial and law enforcement officials will review minor misdemeanor cases and consider a reduction in bond to help with crowding.

“It’s not like we're just going to open the doors and anyone with a misdemeanor can just walk out free. That's not going to happen. They are going to review each case and any of those they feel could be released … they're going to be released,” he said.

Sgt. Ward said several inmates have already been relocated to state and federal facilities.

He said should officials decide to grant a reduction in bond, it would only apply to suspects of misdemeanor crimes.