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                     FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
                    FRIDAY, AUGUST 15, 2003


Stephen Buckner                                        CB03-CR.14
Public Information Office                                          
(301) 763-3030/457-3670 (fax)
(301) 457-1037 (TDD)
e-mail: pio@census.gov                                   
                    

        Census Bureau Says 1.4 Million People in Path of
                      Tropical Storm Erika

  Based on the projected path of Tropical Storm Erika, the U.S. Census
Bureau today calculated that more than 1.4 million people could feel the
strengthening storm's effects as it makes landfall along the south Texas
coast near Brownsville.

  Brownsville has a population of more than 150,000 and is situated on the
southern point of Texas near the Mexican border. A hurricane warning is
in effect from Brownsville to Baffin Bay, Texas, with a tropical storm
warning extending to the north up to Port O'Connor.
                              
  An analysis of data for the projected impact area - about 13,200 square
miles from Brownsville to Baffin Bay and 115 miles inland beyond Rio
Grande - shows that in the 12 Texas counties for which data were compiled,
there were about 148,000 people 65 years old and over. The potentially
affected population includes nearly 463,000 children under 18.

  Most of the half-million housing units in the projected path (83.5
percent) are listed as occupied.

  The following is a demographic profile of the area:


  
 
    
Total population 
    
1,401,862
  
  
 
    
     Children under 18 years 
    
462,958
  
  
 
    
     People 65 and older 
    
148,136 
  
  
 
    
Total housing units 
    
504,733
  
  
 
    
     Occupied housing units 
    
421,242
  
  
 
    
          Owner-occupied 
    
    
290,374
  
  
 
    
          Renter-occupied 
    
    
130,868
  
  
 
    
          Vacant housing 
      units 
    
83,491
  
  
 
    
          For seasonal, recreational 
      or occasional use 
    
36,110
  
  
 
    
Total households 
    
421,242
  
  
 
    
     Family households 
    
337,514
  
  
 
    
          Married-couple 
      families 
    
 251,742
  
  
 
    
               
      With own children under 18 years 
    
139,345 
  
  
 
    
     Nonfamily households 
    
83,728
  
  
 
    
          Householders living 
      alone 
    
70,715
  
  
 
    
     Households with people under 18 years 
    
214,075
  
  
 
    
     Households with people 65 and over 
    
105,257
  



  Tropical Storm Erika is the fifth tropical storm of the 2003 Atlantic
hurricane season, and the third to hit the U.S. mainland.  According to
measurements taken at 1 p.m. CDT, Erika packed maximum sustained winds of
50 miles per hour. The center of the storm was expected to reach landfall
near Brownsville, Texas, early Saturday morning, and then follow a western
track across Texas and Mexico.

-X-

Note: These calculations were made possible 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, combined with Census 2000 counts contained in LandView 5, a
mapping software program. 

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