Winter storm state of emergency closes labor office in Columbus

The Georgia Department of Labor said Friday that career centers in areas potentially impacted by severe winter weather are closing at 1 p.m. Friday. That includes the Columbus Career Center on Veterans Parkway near downtown Columbus.

The storm-related closures in a 78-county area come with Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal declaring a “State of Emergency for Disaster Preparedness” with wintry conditions moving into Georgia in the coming hours and into Saturday morning. That includes possible icy conditions as far south as Columbus and bands of snow several inches thick moving toward Atlanta and into the northern portion of the state.

The career centers being closed early due to the winter storm are those in Americus, North Metro Atlanta, South Metro Atlanta, Athens, Augusta, Blue Ridge, Carrollton, Cartersville, Cedartown, Clayton County, Cobb-Cherokee, Columbus, Covington, Dalton, Gainesville, Griffin, Gwinnett County, Habersham Area, Houston County, LaFayette, LaGrange, Macon, Milledgeville, Newnan, Rome, Thomson and Toccoa.

While the storm is hitting mostly over the weekend, giving state crews much-needed time to start clearing roadways and some thawing to occur, the labor department urges the public to check the website, gdol.ga.gov, for updates the schedules of career centers and other state offices.

This story was originally published January 6, 2017 at 1:09 PM with the headline "Winter storm state of emergency closes labor office in Columbus."