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                     FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
                  TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2003

               
Stephen Buckner                                        CB03-CN.68
Public Information Office                                          
(301) 763-3030/457-3670 (fax)
(301) 457-1037 (TDD)
e-mail: pio@census.gov                                   
                    
          Census Bureau Says Nearly 50 Million People 
                   in Path of Hurricane Isabel

  Based on the projected path of Hurricane Isabel, the U.S. Census Bureau
today calculated that nearly 50 million people could be affected by the
massive storm as it makes landfall somewhere between South Carolina and
Virginia on Thursday.

  According to the National Hurricane Center, Hurricane Isabel is
currently a Category 2 storm. Measurements taken at 2 p.m. indicate that
sustained winds near 105 mph extend outward up to 160 miles from the
center, with tropical storm-force extending more than 275 miles.
 
  Probability charts indicate the storm might make landfall along the
central coast of North Carolina, near the city of Morehead.  Located to
the north of Cape Hatteras, Morehead has more than 7,800 residents. A
hurricane watch was in effect from Little River Inlet, S.C., to
Chincoteague, Va., including the Pamlico and Albemarle Sounds, Chesapeake
Bay south of North Beach, Md., and the tidal Potomac.

  An analysis of census data for the area that could be affected by Isabel
about 217,250 square miles spanning 13 states shows about 6.6 million
people 65 years old and over in the resident population. Also included
were more than 12.2 million children under 18. Most of the 21.2 million
housing units in the hurricane's projected track (91 percent) were
occupied.

  The following is a demographic profile of the area: 

        
   Isabel, the first major hurricane to threaten the mid-Atlantic since
Floyd hit the East Coast in Sept. 1999, is the fourth hurricane of the
2003 Atlantic hurricane season.
                              - X -

Note: These calculations were developed from 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.

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