Gov. Nathan Deal declares State of Emergency for northern counties ahead of winter storm

Acting on a recommendation from the state's Emergency Operations Command, Gov. Nathan Deal on Sunday signed an executive order to declare a state of emergency for disaster preparedness for the 15 North Georgia counties under a winter storm warning and will ask state workers in affected areas who are not involved in emergency response to work from home.

"I am issuing this order out of an abundance of caution, so the state can make all preparations necessary to quickly and efficiently address any potential winter weather problems," said Deal. "We will monitor the weather throughout the night and allocate state resources as needed should ice formation creep further south into the metro area."