Officials unveil ZIP code-based evacuation plan

With the official beginning of the 2007 hurricane season a little more than a week away, Harris County officials have released a new evacuation plan based on ZIP codes. Residents of coastal and low-lying areas can determine whether they're in evacuation zones using a map of the area that groups ZIP codes into four zones based on threat, from the coast up through Brazoria and Galveston counties to Houston's East End, Channelview, Baytown and western Chambers County. The idea, officials say, is to stagger evacuations using the zones so that people with the greatest evacuation need can get out first: "All of these evacuations need to be staggered," Harris County Judge Ed Emmett told KHOU. "We have got to let the people south of Houston and Harris County clear first."

The question, of course, is how well people will follow the plan. The mandatory evacuation plan before Hurricane Rita in 2005 was staggered, too, but a lot of people inland decided they'd leave early, contributing to the legendary highway congestion. Dividing the area up by ZIP code could help, as could contraflow plans adopted after the Rita evacuation and plans to set up stations along evacuation routes offering fuel, water, ice, food and medical care. Evacuees should also have a clearer sense of where to go: The Dallas/Fort Worth area has been designated the chief shelter area for Harris County residents in case of an emergency (though we're still not sure just how Dallas feels about that). There's also a better plan for handling people with special needs: They can register by calling 211 — though only a few thousand have done so to this point — and will be picked up at their homes by Metro buses or taxis in case of an evacuation. They'll then be transported to evacuation hubs at Stallworth Stadium in Baytown, the Pasadena Convention Center and an as-yet-undetermined location elsewhere in Harris County, from where they'll be bused out of town.

The outcome of even the best plan, though, remains unknown until the plan is actually put in practice — "One of the main purposes is to make sure that the individual residents are ready," Emmett said. "Government can only do so much."

---
Photo: flickr user clicksense