NORTH MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - Officials are urging residents to have their escape plans ready just in case, but with so much uncertainty with Hurricane Dorian’s track coming up with that plan is not easy. The whole state is shaded in red so a plan should be put in place to make sure you and your family stay safe.

Residents are still deciding whether to leave or stay in Florida.

For now, no evacuation orders have been issued, but now is the time to plan in case you get an order to leave.

Some residents are wondering if they should drive north now, but officials in charge of issuing evacuation orders said the status of Hurricane Dorian is still wait-and-see.

“It’s all dependent on the direction of the storm; it’s also dependent on the strength of the storm, and the best calculations as to storm surge,” said Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez. “We evacuate based on storm surge.”

For now, Hurricane Dorian’s cone of concern spans nearly the entire state. Hurricanes never travel in a straight line and computer models will continue to shift as Dorian approaches Florida. Those South Floridians leaving now could be accidentally driving into, instead of away from, the path of the storm.

When Hurricane Irma hit Florida in 2017, the storm forced the largest evacuation in Florida’s history. Nearly seven million people were ordered out.

But some who evacuated to the Gulf Coast then had to run again when the storm headed there.

“Trying to forecast where the storm is going to go has proven very negative in many, many other storms,” said Chief Joseph Fernandez, Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue, “so if you think you’re going to go to Orlando because it’s going one way, and the storm turns, you could find yourself caught in the roadway, and in a very vulnerable situation.”

Here is what you are urged to do right now:

Broward residents: If you live in a county designated red or yellow evacuation zone, know where you’ll go if you are ordered out.

Officials said family or friends who live inland are your best bet, or if you know nobody out of the evacuation zone, you can always head to a shelter.

Officials said family or friends who live inland are your best bet, or if you know nobody out of the evacuation zone, you can always head to a shelter. Miami-Dade residents: Check if your home is in one of the five color coded evacuation zones. You too will need a safe place to go to if your zone is evacuated.

“If you haven’t made those plans, make them now,” said Gimenez. “Don’t make them at the time we order an evacuation and say, ‘Now where are we going to go?'”

Find or double check if you are in one of the evacuation zones.

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