An estimated 5.5 million people living along the coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida could feel the effects of Tropical Storm Cindy as it makes landfall somewhere along the Gulf of Mexico late tonight, the U.S. Census Bureau reported today.

     Based on the latest storm advisory (10:00 a.m. CDT), if the storm continues on its current path it could make landfall near and between New Orleans, La., and Destin, Fla., on the northern Gulf Coast late tonight or early Wednesday morning.

     According to the National Hurricane Center at 11:00 a.m. EDT, Cindy packed maximum sustained winds of near 50 MPH, making it a tropical storm. Cindy’s tropical storm-force winds extend outward 105 miles.

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Note: The above calculations are based on projections of the storm’s path from the National Hurricane Center, a part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Weather Service, Census 2000 counts contained in LandView 6, a mapping software program, and Census Bureau population estimates as of July 1, 2004. These data do not present a full picture of the seasonal population increases of coastal or other tourist areas.