MYRTLE BEACH -- Tropical Storm Emily's path is still uncertain, but she's a good reminder to make sure you know your evacuation route and have a plan in place.

"If it sounds like it is really going to be bad," says Myrtle Beach resident Alan Pavloff, "I'm going to run." Pavloff is originally from hurricane-prone Florida.

"If they are blowing the whistles," says Martha Hines, "it's better to get going right then." The Myrtle Beach resident says with her 95-year-old mother she wouldn't stay through the hurricane.

But even though Pavloff and Hines have a plan to leave, they don't have a plan on know where to go.

"I'm just going to get in my automobile and drive away," says Pavloff.

"If we couldn't stay in Conway, I would probably get on 95 and go to Columbia," says Hines.

But probably should already be out of your vocabulary when it comes to hurricane preparedness says Horry County Emergency Management Director Randy Webster.

"Now's the time to start thinking about your hurricane preparing in terms of hurricane kits, evacuation routes, where you're going to go, how you're going to get there, what are you going to do with your pet, what are you going to do if you have elderly family members that you need to take care of," says Webster.

Webster says he knows most people do not prepare when hurricane season officially starts June 1st, but suggests people need a plan before a storm is expected to impact the Grand Strand.

"Try to understand the true impacts of a hurricane," says Webster. "It will be devastating and it will cause a lot of problems...If you wait to the last minute the more you will struggle a lot more."

Though it may feel like a quiet hurricane season with only five named storms so far, 95 percent of all hurricanes occur after August 1st.

The last time the Grand Strand was struck by a storm causing power outages for weeks was in 1989 with Hurricane Hugo. Webster says a lot of people have moved here since Hugo and don't necessarily know the true power of these storms.

"People who have moved here and don't understand it have a tendency to downplay it. But ask anybody who has been through one, and the first thing that they will tell you is that I'm going to get out."

Webster says when you are preparing your evacuation plans make sure you prepare for the worst case scenario. Credit and debit cards will be useless without power so Webster suggest taking out money.

"We learned that from lessons learned from the Gulf Coast with Katrina, Ivan, Ike and one day that is going to happen here. It's just a matter of when."

You can read Chief Meteorologist Ed Piotrowski's take on Tropical Storm Emily, here.

To find out which evacuation route you should use, click here. 

To check out what you need to do to be prepared before, during and after the storm go to the NewsChannel 15 Tropical Update page here.

You can also find a link to frequently asked questions about hurricane season in our Guide to Survive, here.

Do you have a plan in place or do you wait until an evacuation order is given?