City and county officials have an evacuation plan in place should a storm come here.

The areas along the coast would be the first to leave.

Cindy Schmidt knows what it’s like to ride out a hurricane.

The store clerk at Tropical Expressions in Kemah says she couldn’t evacuate during Hurricane Rita.

“Especially with a bunch of animals. I couldn’t image being stuck on the freeway,” said Schmidt.

Everybody agrees that evacuating during Rita turned out to be a traffic hell.

Everyone left at the same time and that turned every major artery heading out of Houston into a congested nightmare.

Officials say they’ve learned from that Rita mess.

They say that the evacuation routes are the same, but the plan is different.

“We still have zones, but it’s broken out by ZIP codes not by color,” said Mark Sloan who is with the Office of Emergency Management.

Sloan says that a group called the Multi-agency Coordinating Committee decides when to make the call.

The plan, he says, is based on ZIP codes.

People who live in the ZIP Zone Coastal Area go first.

They are followed by residents in ZIP Zone A which includes the City of Galveston.

Next comes ZIP Zone B which is Brazoria and Chambers Counties.

And finally there is ZIP Zone C which includes southeastern Harris County.

Many wonder if people will really follow the evacuation plan.

Kemah city administrator Bill Kerber hopes so. “If you live inland you may have to wait a minute. The big problem is trying to get people out of the surge zone. That’s where people get killed.”

Schmidt understands.

“You have to make a choice. Do you want to stay here or live?” she said.

She says she’s staying put -- again.