Daily Almanac for
Jul 24, 2008
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Hurricanes by the Numbers

Millions live in the paths of the biggest storms

Source: U.S. Census Bureau
Hurricane Katrina

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In Harm's Way

34.9 million
Estimated July 1, 2006, population most threatened by Atlantic hurricanes: the coastal portion of the states stretching from North Carolina to Texas. 12% of the nation’s population lived in these areas.

10.2 million
The 1950 coastal population of the states stretching from North Carolina to Texas. 7% of the nation’s population resided in these areas.

24.8 million
Number of people added to the Atlantic and Gulf coastal areas from North Carolina to Texas between 1950 and 2006. Florida alone was responsible for the bulk of this increase (almost 15 million).

244%
Percentage growth of the coastal population of the states stretching from North Carolina to Texas between 1950 and 2006.

180,155
Collective land area, in square miles, of the coastal areas from North Carolina to Texas.

3 of the 20 most populous metro areas in 2006 that were within Atlantic or Gulf coastal areas from North Carolina to Texas. These areas are Houston-Baytown-Sugar Land, Texas (sixth); Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Miami Beach, Fla. (seventh), and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Fla. (19th).

Andrea
The name given to the first Atlantic storm of 2007. The next Atlantic/Gulf of Mexico/Caribbean storm will be named Barry.

About 50 to 100
Number of people killed by hurricanes striking the U.S. coastline in an average three-year period.

Florida

17.6 million
Estimated 2006 coastal population of Florida, accounting for half of the coastal population of the states stretching from North Carolina to Texas. Among the Sunshine State’s coastal population, 10.5 million lived along the Atlantic and 7.1 million along the Gulf.

1.7%
Percentage growth of Florida’s coastal population between 2005 and 2006.

352 people per square mile
The 2006 population density of Florida’s coastal areas. The Sunshine State leads the entire area between North Carolina and Texas in coastal population density.

Hurricanes Past

38,000
Population of Galveston, Texas, at the time of the city's devastating hurricane of 1900. At that time, Galveston, Dallas and Houston had similar populations.

57,466
Galveston's population in 2006—nowhere near that of Dallas (1,213,825) and Houston (2,016,582).

331,917
Population of Charleston County, S.C., in 2006. The county was devastated by Hurricane Hugo in 1989, when its population was 295,000, but has rebounded nicely since.

452,170
Estimated population of New Orleans on July 1, 2005—about two months before Hurricane Katrina struck.

223,388
Estimated population of New Orleans on July 1, 2006 — less than one year after Hurricane Katrina struck. The city’s population was down 50.6% from a year earlier.

1950
The year the Weather Bureau officially began naming hurricanes.

NOTE: Coastal counties include those with at least 15% of their total land area within the nation’s coastal watershed.

Information Please® Database, © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

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