FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
                   FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2003

               
Stephen Buckner                                        CB03-CR.15
Public Information Office                                          
(301) 763-3030/457-3670 (fax)
(301) 457-1037 (TDD)
e-mail: pio@census.gov                                   
                    
        Census Bureau Says 2.7 Million People in Path 
                   of Tropical Storm Henri

  Based on the projected path of Tropical Storm Henri, the U.S. Census
Bureau today calculated that more than 2.7 million Floridians could be
affected by the slow-moving storm as it makes landfall along Florida's
Gulf Coast near Crystal River later this evening.

  Tropical Storm Henri is projected to dump up to 12 inches of rain on
Florida. It could result in flooding across the Sunshine State as it takes
a northeast track through Ocala and St. Augustine.
 
  Crystal River, where the storm is expected to hit land, has a population
of 3,500. A tropical storm warning was in effect from Englewood, south of
Sarasota, north to the Aucilla River, about 20 miles southeast of
Tallahassee.

  An analysis of census data for the projected impact area about 11,800
square miles through north central Florida shows about 487,000 people 65
years old and over live there. The potentially affected population
includes nearly 605,000 children under 18. Most of the 1.2 million housing
units in the path (88.5 percent) were occupied.

  The following is a demographic profile of the area:

   

  
 
    
Total population
    
2,684,859
  
  
 
    
     Children under 18 years
    
605,014
  
  
 
    
     People 65 and older 
    
487,068 
  
  
 
    
Total housing units 
    
1,221,969
  
  
 
    
     Occupied housing units 
    
1,081,565
  
  
 
    
          Owner-occupied 
    
    
791,388
  
  
 
    
          Renter-occupied 
    
    
290,177
  
  
 
    
          Vacant housing 
      units 
    
140,404
  
  
 
    
          For seasonal, recreational 
      or occasional use 
    
53,822
  
  
 
    
Total households 
    
1,081,565
  
  
 
    
     Family households 
    
729,943
  
  
 
    
          Married-couple 
      families 
    
562,771
  
  
 
    
             
         With own children under 18 years 
    
200,764
  
  
 
    
     Nonfamily households 
    
351,622
  
  
 
    
          Householders living 
      alone 
    
277,285
  
  
 
    
      Households with people under 18 years 
    
331,558
  
  
 
    
     Households with people 65 and over 
    
333,569
  

   
           
   Henri is the eighth tropical storm of the 2003 Atlantic hurricane
season, and the fifth to hit the U.S. mainland thus far.  According to
measurements taken at 2 p.m. EDT, Henri packed maximum sustained winds of
45 miles per hour. The center of the storm was expected to reach landfall
near Crystal River tonight and then head northeastward across north
central Florida tomorrow (Sept. 6) before moving offshore into the
Atlantic Ocean.

                              - X -

Note: These calculations were developed from by projections of the storm's
path by the National Hurricane Center, a part of the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) National Weather Service, and Census
2000 counts contained in LandView 5, a mapping software program.