Chatham County, Savannah and municipalities declare emergencies as winter storm warning issued

Chatham County officials, joined by city and municipal leaders and area agencies, held a coordinated briefing after the National Weather Service upgraded a cold-weather advisory to a winter-storm warning for the county. County leadership said it had signed a local state of emergency and urged residents to prepare for freezing rain, sleet and snow that could begin late Tuesday and last into Wednesday.

Dennis Jones, the county emergency management director, told the briefing that he had "already signed a state of emergency for Chatham County" and that county offices would close at noon tomorrow and remain closed on Wednesday; the county planned to reassess operations for Thursday. He said a level 2 activation of the county emergency operations center (EOC) would begin at noon tomorrow and run 24 hours through at least Thursday morning. Jones listed two primary concerns: the accumulation of ice and protecting people experiencing homelessness.

Local leaders…