Columbia County Schools and Florida Gateway College both announced school closures this week due to Hurricane Milton.
The Columbia County School District announced late Tuesday morning that the district’s schools will close Wednesday and Thursday after “thorough discussions with the Emergency Operations Center, Florida Highway Patrol and the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office.”
Milton, a Category 5 storm, is expected to make landfall in the Tampa area of the Gulf Coast before crossing across central Florida in a northeastern fashion.
Still, the district said there could be power outages across the county.
There are also are evacuations occurring further south and those fleeing residents may cause traffic concerns locally, helping impact the decision to close schools, according to the district.
In addition to resuming school Friday, CCS said Monday will now become a weather makeup day for students and staff. It originally was scheduled as a teacher workday.
Early Tuesday afternoon, FGC also announced it was closing its campuses and offices on Wednesday and Thursday.
The Hamilton County School District announced Monday that its schools were closing Wednesday in order to have the Hamilton County High School gymnasium be available as a shelter for evacuees. The district said Monday it plans to resume classes Thursday.
Lafayette County Schools will have early release Wednesday and will be closed Thursday. Lafayette Elementary School students will be released at 12:45 p.m. Wednesday with Lafayette High School students released at 1 p.m.
Lafayette Schools also plan to resume classes Friday.
The Suwannee County School District also closed the schools on Tuesday afternoon to provide shelters for evacuees.
The district will be closed Wednesday and Thursday before resuming normal operations on Friday.