UPDATE: Columbia, Suwannee, Hamilton, Lafayette schools closed for storm

Columbia County, Suwannee County, Hamilton County and Lafayette County schools will all be closed for Tropical Storm Idalia.

In a statement released at noon Monday, Lex Carswell, the superintendent of Columbia County Schools, announced the district will be closed Tuesday and Wednesday for students, teachers and 10-month staff members. Year-round employees are to work Tuesday from 8 a.m. to noon.

“We encourage everyone to prepare their homes as we prepare our schools and buses and get ready for potential shelter openings,” Carswell said in the release. “Thank you for your understanding and please stay safe.”

Ted Roush, the superintendent of Suwannee County Schools, also announced his district’s closure Tuesday and Wednesday just prior to noon Monday.

“A main part of the consideration for closing school for tomorrow is that we are not permitted to operate school bus transportation in the event that winds meet or exceed 35 miles per hour,” Roush said in his statement. “Regardless of the rainfall amounts, there is a strong possibility that winds could meet or exceed the legal standard for operating school buses during periods of student transportation. There is also an increased possibility with the approaching of a possible major hurricane, that electrical power will be interrupted and some transportation routes impassible.”

With the closures, all extra-curricular and after-school activities will also be off Tuesday and Wednesday.

Both Hamilton County and Lafayette County schools will be open Tuesday, as scheduled. After-school programs will be closed Tuesday and no school Wednesday.

Dorothy Lee Wetherington-Zamora, the superintendent of schools in Hamilton County, said in a release issued around 1 p.m. Monday that a weather shelter will be opened at HCHS at 4 p.m. Tuesday. The shelter would possibly close by 4 p.m. Wednesday.