Power surges on utility lines leading to the Benton County Courthouse and Administration Building knocked some systems offline over the weekend, but a surge protector prevented more serious damage.
The problem was first reported Saturday when employees of the Benton County Prosecuting Attorney went to their offices to work, according to Sidney Reynolds, county director of information technology.
“We believe it happened Saturday around 2 or 3 a.m.as far as we can tell,” Reynolds said. “It took down the Internet and the phone system in the courts building.”
John Sudduth, county general services administrator, said the surge also shut down the heating and cooling system in the building, but caused no damage.
“In the courthouse tower the heating and cooling was off in all of the fourth floor offices,” Sudduth said. “All that had to be reset to bring it back online. But there was no mechanical damage.”
A power surge also hit the county Administration Building, but was blocked from doing serious damage by a relatively inexpensive surge protector, Reynolds said.
“It’s about a $250 surge protector that burned out,” Reynolds said.