All Hamilton County schools will be closed Friday because of inclement weather, school officials announced late Thursday morning.

County schools will dismiss at regular dismissal times today; however, all after-school activities for today, including high school football games, have been cancelled.

The district’s School-Age Child Care after-school program will be open today, but closed on Friday.

“We have been in constant communication with Emergency Services officials throughout the morning, and we decided to continue with a regular school schedule for today,” said Superintendent Jesse Register. “We will continue to monitor weather conditions for the rest of the day and throughout the weekend.”

School officials say they made their decision based on the possibility of strong winds and flooding predicted for the Hamilton County area this evening and tonight.

Some six local high school football games had been switched from Friday night to Thursday night.

UTC closed at 3 p.m. and was to remain closed on Friday.

Chattanooga State Community College and Cleveland State Community College will be closed Friday.

Other schools closed Friday include
Chattanooga Christian, McCallie, Baylor, Berean Academy, Bright, GPS, Brainerd Baptist, Hickory Valley Christian, Siskin School, Notre Dame, OLPH, Senter, Silverdale Baptist, St. Nicholas, St. Peter's Episcopal, Tennessee Temple, Collegedale Academy and Lutheran School.

Catoosa County Schools closed early Thursday. Secondary schools closed at at noon and elementary schools were dismissing at 12:30.

Catoosa County Schools will remain closed on Friday.

Walker County Schools were closing at 12:30 p.m. and will be off on Friday.

Dade County Schools were closing at 1 p.m., and Rhea County Schools were closing two hours early.

Bradley County Schools, Marion County Schools and Meigs County Schools are closed Friday.

Don Allen of county emergency preparedness said, "We recommend that you should always be prepared and have items on hand such as, extra drinking water, food, medication, battery supplies for radios and flashlights, and full tank of gasoline in your vehicle… it pays to be prepared.

"There has been a lot of national media coverage regarding activation of shelters. We do not anticipate having to use shelters, however, we are prepared to do so in the unlikely event they would be needed.

"The American Red Cross manages all shelters. They are not predesignated or preassigned, and this is to prevent confusion to the public in case a named shelter was flooded or otherwise disabled.

"In case of downed trees in the city of Chattanooga, call 3-1-1, and in Hamilton County call 855-2200. In case of downed power lines call EPB at 648-1372."