2008 Hurricane Season Begins
From the Census Bureau
The North Atlantic hurricane season begins June 1 and lasts through November. The U.S. Census Bureau produces timely local data that are critical to emergency planning, preparedness and recovery efforts. This edition of Facts for Features spotlights the number of people living in areas that could be most affected by these acts of nature.
In Harms Way
35.3 million
Estimated July 1, 2007, population most threatened by Atlantic hurricanes:
the coastal portion of the states stretching from North Carolina to Texas.
Twelve percent of the nations population lived in these areas.
Source: Population Estimates http://www.census.gov/popest/estimates.php
10.2 million
The 1950 coastal population of the states stretching from North Carolina to Texas. Seven percent of the nations population lived in these areas.
Source: 1950 Decennial Census http://www.census.gov/population/www/censusdata/cencounts.html
25.1 million
Number of people added to the Atlantic and Gulf coastal areas from North Carolina to Texas between 1950 and 2007. Florida alone was responsible for the bulk of this increase (just over 15 million).
Sources: Population Estimates http://www.census.gov/popest/estimates.php
and
1950 Decennial Census http://www.census.gov/population/www/censusdata/cencounts.html
247%
Percentage growth of the coastal population of the states stretching from North Carolina to Texas between 1950 and 2007.
Sources: Population Estimates http://www.census.gov/popest/estimates.php
and 1950 Decennial Census
http://www.census.gov/population/www/censusdata/cencounts.html
180,155
Collective land area, in square miles, of the coastal areas from North Carolina to Texas.
Source: http://www.census.gov/geo/www/gazetteer/places2k.html
3
The number of the 20 most populous metro areas from 2006 to 2007 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).
Source: http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/population/011671.html
3
The number of the 10 fastest growing metro areas in 2007 that were within Atlantic or Gulf coastal areas from North Carolina to Texas. These were Palm Coast, Fla. (first), Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, S.C. (sixth), New Orleans-Metarie-Kenner, La. (eighth).
Source: http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/cb08-49table2.xls
6
The number of hurricanes during the 2007 Atlantic hurricane season.
Source: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/2007atlan.shtml
Arthur
The name of the first Atlantic storm of 2008. The second Atlantic/Gulf of Mexico/Caribbean storm will be named Bertha.
Source: http://www.srh.weather.gov/tropicalwx/awareness/tc101.htm
(For the full list of hurricane names through 2013: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/aboutnames.shtml
About 50 to 100
Number of people killed by hurricanes striking the U.S. coastline in an average three-year period.
Source: http://www.noaa.gov
The year the Weather Bureau officially began naming hurricanes.
Source: http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/tcfaq/J6.html
452,170
Estimated population of New Orleans on July 1, 2005 about two months before Hurricane Katrina struck.
Source: http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/population/009756.html
239,124
Estimated population of New Orleans on July 1, 2007 two years after Hurricane Katrina struck. The parishs population increased 13.8 percent from a year earlier when it was 210,198.
Source: http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/cb08-47table1.xls
342,973
Population of Charleston County, S.C., in 2007. The county was devastated by Hurricane Hugo in 1989, when its population was 295,000, but has rebounded nicely since.
Source: http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/population/011635.html
29,431
The population of Homestead, Fla., near the point of landfall of Hurricane Andrew in 1992. In 2006, the population of Homestead was 53,767.
Source: http://www.census.gov/popest/archives/1990s/su-99-07/SU-99-7_FL.txt
38,000
Population of Galveston, Texas, at the time of the citys Great Storm on Sept. 8, 1900, that killed more than 8,000 people. At that time, Galveston, Dallas and Houston had similar populations. In 2006, the population of Galveston was 57,523, nowhere near that of Dallas (1,232,940) and Houston (2,144,491).
Source: http://www.census.gov/population/www/techpap.html
Note: Coastal counties include those with at least 15 percent of their total land area within the nations coastal watershed.
Source: <http://www.census.gov/geo/landview/lv6help/coastal_cty.pdf>
Editors note: The preceding data were collected from a variety of sources and may be subject to sampling variability and other sources of error.